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93d Anniversary of the Battle 
of Fort Stephenson 



Reinterment of Remains of Major Geo. Croghan, 

beneath the monument erected in his 

honor on Fort Stephenson, 

Fremont, Ohio. 



Thursday, August 2, 1906 



Proceedings reprinted from the Publications of the 

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. 

Columbus, Ohio, 

1907. 



93d Anniversary of the Rattle 
of Fort Stephenson 



Reinterment of Remains of Major Geo. Croghan, 

beneath the monument erected in his 

honor on Fort Stephenson, 

Fremont, Ohio. 



Thursday, August 2, 1906 



Proceedings reprinted from the Publications of the 

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. 

Columbus, Ohio, 

1907. 



.5-1 K 



<^:: 



THE INVITATION. 



THE CITIZENS OF FREMCSIT. OHIO, COKIJIALI--Si INVITE YOU 
TO ATTEND THE 

CELEBKATIOlsr ON AUGfUS'X" 2Nn, lOOO 

IN HONOR OF THE !>:JD ANNIVEKSAKV OF THE IJEFENSE OF FORT 

STEPHENSON, AT LOWER SANDUSKY (NOW FREMONT) 

AND THE CEREMONIES INCIDENT TO THE 

INTERMENT OF THE REMAINS OF 

jNIa.tor GTr:oROK: Croohan 

BENEATH THE MONUMENT ERECTED IN HIS HONOR ON FORT STEPH- 
ENSON. WHICH HE SO GALLANTLY DEFENDED AGAINST 
THE BRITISH AND INDIANS UNDER PROCTOR 
AND TECUMSEH, AUG. I AND 2. 1S13. 



USTA^ITATIO^r C'OjNI^irrTEE. 

COL. W-EBB C. HAYES. COL. WM. E. HAYNES. 

GENERAL JESSE C. CHANCE. 

HON. C. C. TUNNINGTON-, MAYOR. HON. .TAMES HUNT. 



CITIZENS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

jVr. (4TL^Sr>ORE, Sec'y. 

CITY HALL, FREMONT, OHIO. 



Major Croglian to General Harrison July 30, 1813. 

"1 have just received yours of yesterday, 10 o'clock p. m., ordering me to de- 
stroy this place and make good my retreat, which was received too late to be car- 
ried into execution. We have determined- to maintain this place, and by Heaven 
we can." 

General Harrison to Governor Meigs. 

Headquarters Seneca Town, 2d August, 1813. 
"Dear Sir: 

The enemy have been, since last evening, before Lower Sandusky, and are 
battering it with all their might. Come on, my friend, as quickly as possible, that 
we may relieve the brave fellows who are aefending it. I had ordered it to be 
abandoned. The order was not obeyed. I know it will be defended to the last ex- 
tremity; for earth does not hold a set of finer fellows than Croghan and his of- 
ficers. I shall expect yovi to-morrow certainly. 

Vours, etc., 

\VM. H. H.\RRISON." 

Extract Letter of General Sherman to Ex-President Hayes. 



"The defense of Fort Stephenson, by Croghan and his gallant little band, was 
the necessary precursor to Perry's victory on the I.ake, and of General Harrison's 
triumphant victory at the battle of the Thames. These assured to our immediate 
ancestors the mastery of the Great West, and from that day to this the west has 
been the bulwark of this nation. 

The occasion is worthy a monument to the skies, and nothing could be more 
congenial to me personally than to assist, but, as I hope I have demonstrated, it 
is impossible." 



NINETY-THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF 
FORT STEPHENSON. 



REINTERMENT OF REMAINS OF MAJOR GEORGE CROGHAN, BE- 
NEATH THE MONUMENT ERECTED IN HIS HONOR 
ON FORT STEPHENSON, FREMONT, OHIO. 



Thursday, August 2, 1906, 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 

Mayor C. C. Tunnington, Chairman. 

Col. Webb C. Ha_\es, Col. Wm. E. Haynes, Judge Jolm B. Cooiirod, Dr. 

M. Stamni. Mr,^. H. G. Edgerton, Mrs. Geo. Zunnierman. 

M. Gusdorf. Secretary. 

FINANCE COMMITTEE. 

J. W. Wor.st, Cliairman. 
W. B. McConnell, A. H. Jackson, W. E. Proctor, J. F. Gottron, F. J. 
Svvint. P. J. Hasselbach. J. W. ?*Ioore, S. M. Fronizer, A. E. Rice, 
Jos. Schwartz, V. D. Butman, Juhus Walde. 

RECEPTION COMMITTEE. 

Hon. H. S. Buckland, Chairman. 

AUTOMOBILE RECEPTION COMMITTEE. 

Frank Anderson, Chairman. 

MEXICAN WAR VETERAN COAFMITTEE. 

Capt. A. Kline, Chairman. 

GR.\NR .ARMY CO.M M ITTEE. 

I. H. Burgoon, Chairman. 

SPANISH WAR VETERAN COMMITTEE. 

Lt. Col. Myron C. Co.\, Chairman. 

SCHOOL CHILDREN COMMITTEE. 

W. D. Ross, Chairman. 

Rev. Father Faist, Rev. Father O'Hare. 

V 



vi The Croa^liiiii Celebration. 



AMUSEMKXT I O.MM ITTEE. 

Thco. Lanji. Chairman. 

VENETIAN NIGHT COMMITTEE. 

Dr. M. Stamm, Chairman. 

FIRE WOUK.S ((KM M ITTEE. 

C. F. Rciff. Chairman. 

HOME DAY COMMITTEE. 

lion. H. S. Buckland. Chairman. 

TRANSPOKTATKIN COMMITTEE. 

W. A. Cox. Chairman. 

DECORATIOX.S COMMITTEE. 

C. P. Has.s, Chairman. 

BAND.S COM. M ITTEE. 

C. F. Bell, Chairman. 

PROGRA M M E COM M ITTEE. 

S. P. Kceler, Chairman. 

PRESS COMMITTEE. 

T. A. Dean, Chairman. 

COMMITTEE ON INVITATIONS. 

Col. Webb C. Hayes, Col. Wm. F. llasncs, Hon. C. C. TunninRton, Hon, 
James Hnnt, Gen. J. C. Chance. 

CO.M MITTEE ON OHIO llAR .VSSOCl.VTION. 

lion. James limit. Chairman. 

COMMITTEE O-X OHIO I.EGI SI..\Tl"KE. 

lion. J. J. l.ehmann. Chairman. 

I'KOCRAAl. 

National salnte. "Jl guns at sunrise. 

Reception Connnittee. 

At H A. M. remains of Major. Croj^han will be conveyed from the 
vault in Oak Wood cemetery to ihe high school building via Harrison 
trail, escorted by the Light Guard P)and and Company K, 6th Infantry. 

Parade 10:80 A. M. 

Platoon Fremont hire DeiJartment. 

Lt. Col. :\lvron C. Cox, (irand .Mar.^hal and Staff. 



Program. vii 

KIRST IIIVISION. 

i'.ri.uade Ohio N;iluin;il (inard. llrii;. (im. Win. V. AicMakni, Coiii- 
maiulin.L;. 

Isi Company Sit-nal Corps, (). N. G., 'J'olcdo 

Ikuul. 

Sixth RcgiiiKiit Infaiitry. O. N. G. : Company A, Toledo; Company 

B. : Company C, Toledo : Company D, Fostoria ; Company R. 

Bucyrus; Company I'", Napoleon; Company G. Defiance; Company II. 
Toledo; ComiKuiy 1, Clyde; Comi)any K. l-'remont ; Company L, Toledo; 
■Company Al, Port Clinton. 

Company A. Second Infantry. Findlay. 

Company G. Fifth Infantry. Norvvalk. 

Company I. Eighth Infantry. Tiffin. 

First Battalion Xaval Brigade. O. N. G.. Toledo. 

Second Battery hield Artdlerx. (). N. G., Toledo. 

Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks. Vice President of the United States; 
General Andrew L. Harris, Governor of Ohio, and staff, and distingnished 
gnests in antomobiles and carriages. 

.SECOND DIVISION. 

Col. J. H. Rhodes. Commanding. 

IJand. 

Mexican War Veterars. 

G. A. R. Posts and Civil War Veterans. 

Band. 

United States War Veterans and Soldiers of the War with Spain. 
Phillippine Insnrrection and China Relief Expeditiqn. 

.\ battalion of school children from the Fremont Public Schools and 
from St. Joseph's and St. Ann's parochial schools, will join the second 
division at the British redoubt, corner Park avenue and State street. 

The procession will halt at the high school building for the remains 
of }»Iajor Croghan and the George Croghan chapter, D. A. R.. and then 
proceed to Fort Stephenson Park, where the remains will be placed 
beneath the nionument. 

THIRD DIVISION. 

Capt. E. C. Sayles, Commanding. 

Band. 

Fraternal and Patriotic Societies and Organizations. 

Citizens in decorated automobiles and carriages. 

PARADE ROt'TE. 

East on State to Front, south on Front to Birchanl. west on Birch- 
ard to Monroe, north on Monroe to Garrison, east on Garrison to Wood, 
north on Wood to State, east on State to Park, south on Park to Garri- 
son, east on Garrison to Fort Stephenson Park. 



viii The Croo^Jian Celebration. 



EXERCISES AT FORT STEPHENSON PARK. 

1 :30 p. M. 

1. ^lusic by the Light Guard Band. 

2. Assembl}- called to order by ^laj'or C. C. Tunnington. 

3. Address by General Jesse C. Chance, president of the day. 

4. Prayer by Rev. W. E. Tressel. 

5. Patriotic song by school children. 

0. Historical address by Hon. Basil Meek. 

7. Music by Light Guard Band. 

8. Address by Hon. Samuel D. Dodge. 

9. Patriotic .song by school children. 

lU. Paper on Fort S.tephenson l)y J. P. Moore. 

]L Remarks by the Honorable Charles W. Fairbanks, Vice President of 

the United States. 
12. Remarks by General Andrew L. Harris, Governor of Ohio. 
18. Remarks by Hon. E. O. Randall, Secretary Ohio Archfeological and 

Historical Society. 
14. Music by the Light Guard Band. 
lb. Presentation of distinguished guests. 

Dress Pak.xde of Troops at ^IcPherson Park, 5 P. M. 

Reception .\t Si'ihXEL Gkove, H :30 P. M., to the Honorable Charles 
W. Fairbanks. Vice President of the United States, and General Andrew 
L. Harris. Governor of Ohio, and staff. All are invited. 

Venetian Night on Sandusky river, 7:30 P. M. 



OHIO 
Archaeological and Historical 



PUBLICATIONS, 



THE CROGHAN CELEBRATION. 



LUCY ELLIOT KEELER. 

It was not liad usage of the old Romans to bring down from 
its niche the waxen image of an eminent ancestor on the anni- 
versary of his natal day, to recall his 
features and achievements to their 
own minds and impress them upon 
the younger generation. A like 
tribute the patriotic citizens of Fre- 
mont, Ohio, pay from time to time 
to their local hero. ]\lajor George 
Croghan, on the anniversary of that 
notable second of August, 1813. when 
with his little band of soldiers he 
defeated a foe overwhelming in 
numbers under the British General 
Proctor and the Indian Chief Tecum- 
seh. It was not only a feat of incom- 
parable bravery, but it marked the 
turning of the tide in the War of 1812, which up to that time 
had l)een a series of disa;-ters to the American arms. 

The first formal observance of the anniversary of Croghan's 
Victory occurred in 1839, ^t which time messages from Croghan 
himself were received. Since that date every decade has wit- 
nessed one or more celebrations, notable among which were those 
of 1852, when ''Old Betsy" was brought back to the scene of 
Vol. XVI—] . { 1 ) 




COL. WEIM! C. JLWES. 



2 Ohio Arch, mid Hist. Society Publications. 

her great triumph; i860, presaging llie Civil War, when Cassius 
M. Clay was the orator of the day; and 1885, when the Monu- 
ment on the fort was unveiled in the presence of the President of 
the United States and many other distinguished soldiers and 
civilians. 

The celebration of August 2d, 1906, was, however, more 
notable and imposing than any of its predecessors, since on that 
date the remains of Croghan were interred at the base of the 
monument erected to the memory of himself and the brave men 
of his command, on the very spot they had so gallantly defended 
ninety-three years before. 

Follov.-ing the defense of Fort Stephenson Croghan figured 
conspicuously in the closing events of the War of 1812. His sub- 
sequent career as Colonel Inspector General, United States Army, 
during the Mexican War and until his death, will be noted in the 
pages following. He died of cholera, in New Orleans, January 
8, 1849, li's spirit taking flight just as the last gun of the national 
salute commemorating the 34th anniversary of Jackson's victory, 
was fired. 

For many years past it was the general supposition that the 
remains of this hero lay in one of the numerous cemeteries of 
New Orleans. Colonel Webb C. Hayes, imbued with patriotic 
sentiment and historic spirit, began several years ago the search 
for the grave of Croghan. Through Colonel Hayes' efforts the 
Quartermaster General at Washington took up the matter and 
made diligent investigation in New Orleans, but finally was 
compelled to abandon the search as fruitless. Colonel Hayes 
persevered and in February, 1906, received a letter from Mrs. 
Eliza1)eth Croghan Kennedy, grand daughter of George Cro- 
ghan and wife of the late Captain Kennedy. U. S. N.. which 
gave the information leading to the coveted discovery of the re- 
mains in the family burial plot in the beautiful old Croghan 
estate. Locust Grove, on the Ohio river, several miles from Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. 

Col. Hayes, in company with R. C. Ballard-Thruston and 
S. Thruston-Ballard, of the Kentucky Historical Society, pro- 
ceeded to the old estate, now owned by J. S. Waters, and located 
the burial plot about 300 yards from the mansion. Thickly over- 



The Croghan Celebration. 3 

grown with beautiful myrtle were the moss-eovered tombstones of 
Major William Croghan and wife, the parents of George Croghan, 
his brothers. Dr. John and N. Croghan, and one sister, Elizabeth. 
In one corner lay an overturned headstone on which appeared the 
inscription, Col. G. C, marking the long-sought resting place. 

General George Rogers Clark, brother of Lucy Clark Cro- 
ghan and uncle of George Croghan, died at the Croghan home- 
stead and was buried in the Croghan family burying ground at 
Locust Grove, Ky. In 1869 the State of Kentucky authorized the 
removal of the remains to Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Ky., 
where a beautiful and imposing monument was erected in his 
honor. 

Arrangements were at once made for the disinterment by 
Messrs. llallard and Thruston who, with their wives and Miss 
Mary Clark, of St. Louis, were present, all being related to Col. 
Croghan through his mother, of the great Clark family. 

The mahogany casket, found at a depth of six feet, was 
badly decomposed, but the leaden casket within was intact, being 
six and one-half feet in length, 20 inches wide and eight inches 
<ieep. It was immediately boxed and taken to Louisville and 
thence directly to Fremont. 

The remains arrived in Fremont Monday evening, June nth, 
1906, and were conveyed to the city hall on the fort. The room 
had been beautifully decorated by the George Croghan Chap- 
ter, D. A. R., with flowers and evergreen, and myrtle from the 
Kentucky grave. A detail from Company K stood at the head and 
foot of the casket as the remains lay in state. On the afternoon 
of the 13th, the flag-draped casket was lifted to the shoulders 
of six members of Company K, who were preceded by the com- 
pany's trumpeter, and followed by the five local veterans of the 
Mexican War who had served in that campaign under Croghan. 
These veterans acted as honorary pall-bearers. The ladies of the 
D. A. R. and many citizens followed. The procession passed out 
in front of the Soldiers' Monument, where it was photographed, 
and then proceeded to Oakwood Cemetery, marching over the 
Harrison trail through Spiegel Grove. At Oakwood the re- 
mains were placed in the vault, a song was sung by the D. A. R., 
and the trumpeter sounded taps. 



4 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

The surviving members of the Croghan family graciously ac- 
quiesced in Col. Hayes' action and gave all assistance in their 
power. The following letter, from a nephew of Colonel Croghan, 
Mr. R. C. Ballard-Thruston, tells the story of the discovery, to- 
gether with other important facts regarding the distinguished 
family to which our hero belonged. We give the letter entire: 

Louisville, Ky., June 13, 1906. 
Col. Webb C. Hayes. 

My Dear Colonel: As per my letter of a few days ago I now take 
pleasure in writing you of certain data regarding the Qark family, which 
you desired and, in addition thereto, the facts regarding the location of 
the grave of Col. George Croghan and the exhuming and forwarding of 
his remains to you. 

Major William Croghan and wife Lucy, lived about five or six 
miles east or northeast of the court house of Louisville, Ky., and probably 
something over a mile from the Ohio river, at a place which was called 
Locust Grove, now owned by J. S. Waters. What was formerly the rear 
of the house is now the front. An illustration of the house with the 
present front is shown in Gov. English's work, vol. H, page 887. And it is 
north of this house about 300 yards that their family burying ground 
is located. A description of this and what we found there will follow 
later. Quite an account of them is given by Gov. English in his work, 
vol. II, page 1002 ct seq., in which there are a few errors that should 
be corrected as follows: Page 1003, first line, "1767" should be '1765." 
Page 1004, line four, "seventy-first" should be "seventj^-third." And on 
line 3, after the word "marriage" should be inserted the words "License 
issued July 18, 1789 — no return made." In the next paragraph on that 
page is a list of the children of Major William Croghan and wife, which 
I notice does not include "Serina E," mentioned in the foot note on that 
page. I think she was Serena Livingston, wife of George Croghan, and 
therefore a daughter-in-law. 

I have no list of the dates of the births of these Croghan children. 
Their names as given in Gov. English's work, page 1004. are correct. 
From an original letter which I have, written about the early part of last 
century, John, George and Nicholas were among the eldest of the chil- 
dren and I have a newspaper clipping giving the death of Nicholas 
Croghan in 1825. 

The marriage records of this county show that a marriage license 
for George Hancock and Elizabeth Croghan, daughter of Major William 
Croghan, was issued September 29, 1819, and return made by the Rev. 
D. C. Banks on the same day. A marriage license for Gen. Thomas 
Jessup with Ann Croghan, daughter of Maj. William Croghan, was is- 



The Croghan Celebration. 5 

sued May 15, 1832. Return made two days later by the Rev. Daniel 
Smith. My notes on this subject were made some years ago and I fail 
to find among them the marriage records of any other of these Croghan 
children. 

As to the family burying ground at Locust Grove. It lies about 
three hundred yards north of the dwelling surrounded by a stone wall 
eighteen inches thick and from three to five feet high, the sides facing the 
cardinal points, and the entrance six feet wide in the center of the 
southern wall. It, however, has since been filled in with stone, making a 
north and south walls which are each 48 feet long on the outside, the east 
and west walls being 47 feet. There are quite a number of trees within 
the enclosure, the most prominent of which is a five-pronged elm. We 
also found two red elms, four hackberries, two cherries and two locusts. 
Almost the entire space is covered with myrtle and some underbrush. 
The walls are largely overgrown with Virginia creeper and poison ivy 
or oak. The graveyard seems to have been designed with four parallel 
rows of graves running from north to south, in each case the grave 
facing the east. The eastern one of these rows apparently was not 
tised, as we saw neither headstone nor evidence of a grave on that row. 
On the next row, five feet from the north wall, we found a headstone 
marked "McS." I am at a loss to know whose grave this could be. 
Fourteen feet from the north wall on this line is the center of a one- 
foot space between two large marble slabs, each being three feet wide 
and six feet long with ornate edges. The northern one of these seems 
to have rested on four pedestals, one at each corner. They have since 
fallen and the slab is now resting on the ground and covers the remains 
of Mary Carson O'Hara, wife of William Croghan, Jr. The inscription 
■on this slab is as follows: 

Beneath this slab 

are deposited the remains of 

Mrs. Mary Carson Croghan 

(late of Pittsburgh) 

who departed this life 

October 15th, A. D. 1827, 

In the 24th year of her age. 



Also 

her infant daughter 

Mary O'Hara, 

who expired July 18, 1826, 

in the ninth month of her age. 



6 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Puhlications. 

Slab B rests on four slabs, each of which is ornately carved. The 
inscription being : 

Eliza, 

youngest daughter of 

William and Lucy Croghan, 

born April 9th, 1801, 

married George Hancock Sept., 1819, 

died July l-ith. 1833. 

The next headstone was twenty feet from the north wall and was 
marked "Mrs. L. C." The next headstone, twenty-three feet from the 
north wall, was marked "Maj. W. C." These were evidently the graves 
of Major and Mrs. William Croghan, the parents of Colonel George 
Croghan. On this same row south of Major Croghan's grave was quite 
a sunken space, which probably marks the spot from which the remains 
of Gen. George Rogers Clark were removed in 1869. On the next row 
of graves west of the last and fourteen feet from the north wall is a 
headstone marked "E. C." This is probably Edmund Croghan's grave. 
On this row, seventeen feet from the north wall, is a headstone marked 
"N. C," or Nicholas Croghan, a brother of Col. George Croghan, who 
died in 1825. At ten feet from the south wall on this same row is a 
headstone marked "Dr. J. C," Dr. John Croghan, who lived at Locust 
Grove after the death of his parents and at whose home my mother was 
a frequent visitor in her younger days. As there were no other head- 
stones found between those of Dr. John Croghan and Nicholas Croghan, 
the probabilities are that other members of the family were buried within 
this enclosure whose headstones have since been lost, or whose graves 
were not properly marked. 

Near the southwest corner in the most western one of these rows, 
we found but one headstone, four feet from the western wall and five 
feet from the southern wall. It was lying on its face entirely covered 
with myrtle and upon investigation bore the marks of "Col. G. C." mark- 
ing the grave of Col. George Croghan, which you were searching for, 
and whose remains you desired to remove to Fremont, Ohio, having ob- 
tained permission of his daughter and other descendants. 

When this grave was found, on Thursday, June 7, there were 
present yourself, my brother, S. Thruston Ballard, Mr. J. S. Waters 
and myself. After definitely locating and identifying the grave, my 
brother sent to his country place for two negro hands (John Bradford 
and Alex Howard) and after lunch we proceeded to open the grave. At 
nearly five feet below the surface we found fragments of a mahogany 
casket, now almost entirely decayed, and a leaden case which con- 
tained the remains. This latter was broken in several places, and as 
would naturally be expected, its top was resting upon the skeleton. 



The Cro^Jian Celebration. 



This leaden case containing the remains, the headstone above mentioned, 
a footstone marked "G. C." which we also found at the foot of the 
grave, and some myrtle which was growing over the grave, which you 
desired, were carefully taken to my brother's place, and the following 
morning brought into Louisville, where I had them properly boxed (the 
leaden case being covered with a United States flag) and the following 
day, June 0. expressed them to you at Fremont, Ohio, and I hope, before 

this, have reached you in pro- 
WW^^^^i^^^T^^^^^'^^^'^?^ per shape. 

In addition to those pre- 
sent at the finding of the grave 
of Colonel Geoige Croghan, 
above mentioned, there were 
present at the exhuming of 
his remains, my sister-in-law, 
Mrs. S. Thurston Ballard, 
Miss Mary Clark, of St. Louis, 
Mrs. J. S. Waters, four of the 
Waters' children, my little 
nephew Rogers Clark Ballard, 
and one or two servants of Mr. 
Waters. 

My brother carried a 
kodak with him and made sev- 
eral attempts to get kodaks 
of the old Croghan residence 
:,;ul family burying ground, 
copies of which will be sent 
you as soon as they are 
printed. 

With sincerest regards, I 
am yours very truly, 
R. C. Ballard Thruston, 
Meynber of the Filson Club. Virginia Historical Society. 




GR.WE OF GEORGE CROGHAN 
LOCUST GROVE, KV. 



AT 



George Croghan himself left three children ; a son, Col. St. 
George Croghan, a brave soldier on the Confederate side, killed 
in Virginia, in one of the early battles of the Civil War ; Mrs.* 
Mary Croghan Wyatt, who died in California in February, 1906 ; 
and the youngest and only surviving child, Mrs. Serena Livings- 
ton Rodgers, wife of Augustus F. Rodgers, »U. S. N. Mrs. 
Rodgers lives in San Francisco, and is now 86 vears of age. 



8 Ohio Arch, and Hisl. Society Publications. 

Col. St. George Croghan left two children, both living, a 
son, George, and a daughter, Elizabeth Croghan, now the widow 
of Capt. Duncan Kennedy, U. S. N., who has one son. 

Airs. Rodgers has a daughter, and Mrs. Wyatt a son, 
Judge Wyatt, of New York. All living descendants of Croghan 
were invited to be present at the re-interment of the remains of 
their famous father, grandfather and great-grandfather. 

On the occasion of the unveiling of a tablet to Croghan, on 
Fort Stephenson Park, by the D. A. R., :\Irs. ^^■yatt, to whom 
an invitation to be present had l:ieen sent, wrote, under date of 
July 14, 1903 : 

''My Dear Miss Keeler : It was indeed most gratifying to receive 
your invitation to be with you when the Croghan tablet will be unveiled. 
It would indeed be a delight to me to be present when such honor was 
paid to my dear father, but with sorrow I must decline. My journeyings 
in this world are pretty much over. I have lately injured my knee and 
walk with difficulty. * * * Sincerely, 

"M.-\RY Croghan Wy.a.tt." 

CROGHAN's ancestry and LIl^E. 

The name Croghan is an illustrious one in the early annals 
of our country, especially in the Western annals preceding the 
establishment of the Republic. 

On the paternal side George Croghan came of fighting blood. 
He belonged to the race of "the Kellys, the Burkes and the 
Sheas," who always "smell the battle afar off." The first Cro- 
ghan we hear of in this country was Major George Croghan, who 
was born in Ireland and educated at Dublin University. Just 
when he came to America we do not know. He established him- 
self near Harrisburg, and was an Indian trader there as early as 
1746. He learned tlie language of the aborigines and won their 
confidence. He served as a captain in Braddock's expedition in 
1755, and in the defetise of the western frontier in the following 
year. The famous Sir William Johnson, of New York, who was 
so efficient in dealing with the natives and whom George II had 
commissioned "Colonel, agent and sole superintendent of the 
affairs of the Six Nations and other northern Indians," came to 
recognize Croglian's worth, and made him deputy Indian agent 
for the Pennsylvania and Ohio Indians. In 1763 Sir William 



I'lic Croi^/iiin Celebration. 



9 



■sent him to Juiglantl to confer with the ministry in regard to 
some ln(han Ixnnulary line. He traveled widely throngh the In- 
•dian country which is now the Central West. While on a mis- 
sion in 1765 to pacify the Illinois Indians he was attacked, 
■wounded and taken to Vincennes. But he was soon released and 




MAJOR GEORGE CROGHAN. 



:accomplished his mission. He was deeply impressed with the 
great possibilities of this western country and urged upon Sir 
William Johnson the importance of securing this region to the 
English colonies. It is a singular coincidence that this first 
Major George Croghan was pitted against Pontiac in much the 



10 Ohio .Irch. iiitd J:{ist. Socictx Piib!:catioJis. 

same way that Major George Croghan the second was pitted 
against Tecumseh. In May, 1766, he fixed his abode near Fort 
Pitt, using his good offices and influence in pacifying the Indians 
and concihating them to British interests. He died about 1782. 
It is altogether probable that his reports regarding the northwest- 
ern country had something to do with impressing George Rogers 
Clark with its importance. 

The similarity of name and title makes this reference to the 
first George Croghan pertinent, although his kinship with the 
second George Croghan was l)ut collateral. The father of our 
hero of Ft. Stephenson was A\'i]liam Croghan, born in Ireland 
in 1752. Just when he came to this country it has been impossible 
to ascertain. At any rate the young man was well established 
here at the time of the Declaration of Independence. He 
promptly volunteered his services, becoming a captain of a Vir- 
ginia company. He served to the end of the war, being mustered 
out the senior Major of the \'irginia line. He took part in the 
battles of Brandywine, Monmouth and Germantown ; and he was 
with the army that bitter winter at Valley Forge. In 1780 his 
regiment was ordered South and he was made prisoner at the 
surrender of Charleston. He was present at Yorktown, when the 
last great battle of the war was fought, though he could not share 
in the fighting, as he was on parole. He served for a time on the 
stafif of Baron Steuben, and he was one of the officers present at 
the Verplanck mansion on the Hudson in ]May, 1783, when the 
Society of Cincinnati was instituted. Shortly after the war Cro- 
ghan joined the increasing drift of Virginians over the moun- 
tains into the new land of Kentucky and found a home near the 
Falls of the Ohio. 

There, presumably, he won and wed his wife. She, too, 
came of valorous stock. Her name was Lucy Clark, daugh- 
ter of John Clark, recently come to Kentucky from Virginia. 
She had five brothers, four of whom served in the Revolu- 
tionary War. The most distinguished of these was George 
Rogers Clark, to whose great and heroic campaign through 
the wilderness to \'incennes we owe the winning of the North- 
west Territory. It was to this George Rogers Clark, uncle of 
Croghan, that Harrison referred in liis official report of the 



Tlie Croghan Celebration. 11 

battle when he said with evident gratification : "It will not be 
among the least of General Proctor's mortifications to know 
that he has been baffled by a youth who has just passed his 
twenty-first year. He is. however, a hero worthy of his gallant 
imcle, Gen. G. R. Clark, and I bless my good fortune in having 
first introduced this promising shoot of a distinguished family 
to the notice of the government." Another brother, William, 
who was too young to participate in the Revolution, was the 
Clark who, with Captain Lewis, made the famous expedition of 
exploration across the continent. He was appointed in 1813 by 
President Madison Governor of Missouri Territory. 

To William Croghan and his wife, Lucy, at Locust Grove, 
Ky., November 15, 1791, was born the boy that was destined to 
make the family name illustrious. He was christened George, in 
honor of the mother's brother, whose great and daring achieve- 
ment had given his name vast renown. We know practically 
nothing of George Croghan's boyhood. Doubtless it was like 
that of the ordinary Virginia boy of the period, who was the 
son of a well-to-do planter, modified by the exigencies of frontier 
life. 

Our boy had books to read, and lessons to learn ; and there 
were always his father's and his uncles' tales of the recent Revo- 
lutionary War and of the untamed country through which they 
had traveled ; as well as of the Dublin kindred and society. 

George was ready for college at an early age, and went to 
William and Mary, in Virginia, next to Harvard the oldest col- 
lege in the land. From it graduated four presidents of the 
United States, Jefferson, Monroe, Tyler and Harrison, beside 
Chief Justice Marshall and Gen. Winfield Scott. After Croghan's 
graduation he took up the study of law. War was in the air, 
however, as well as in his blood, and in 181 1 the youth enlisted 
as a private in the volunteer army under Harrison. His hand- 
some face, alight with intelligence, won him speedy notice from 
the officers, a good impression which was strengthened by his 
conduct and ability. He was soon appointed aide-de-camp to Gen. 
Boyd, second in command. At the battle of Tippecanoe, shortly 
after, his zeal and courage induced Gen. Harrison to recommend 



12 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publicatiofis. 

the lad's appointment to the regular army, and he was made cap- 
tain of the 17th U. S. Infantry. 

In August, 1812, his command accompanied the detachment 
under Gen. Winchester, which marched from Kentucky to the 
relief of Gen. Hull at Detroit. Hull's disgraceful surrender made 
a change of plan necessary, and Winchester's men marched 
through the wilderness to assist Gen. Harrison at Fort Wayne, 
and then down the Maumee to Fort Defiance, in September. 
1812. Here, in spite of his extreme youth, Croghan was left 
in command by Harrison. So successful was he in this trying 
ordeal that Winchester left him in command of Fort Defiance, 
while he himself marched on to the River Raisin. All know the 
frightful massacre which followed, Croghan owing his escape to 
his duty at Defiance. 

Capt. Croghan then joined Gen. Harrison at the newly con- 
structed Fort Meigs on the Maumee, taking gallant part in its 
defense during the seige. Here the famous pair. Proctor and 
Tecumseh, the one with a thousand British regulars and the 
other with twice that number of Indians, were the besieging 
leaders. The siege continued during thirteen days of that May, 
and included one direful incident. Col. Dudley, with his Ken- 
tucky troops, came to the relief of the fort, but owing to an am- 
buscade arranged by Tecumseh, Dudley's forces were surrounded 
and 650 of the 800 soldiers were killed, wounded or taken 
prisoners. 

In a sortie made to save these unfortunate troops, Capt. 
Croghan so distinguished himself by the vigor and bravery of his 
assault on a battery, that Gen. Harrison recommended him for 
further ])romotion. He was soon afterward commissioned major 
m the 17th U. S. Infantry. In July of that year he and his 
command appeared at Fort Stephenson, the wretched little stock- 
ade in Lower Sandusky. When they left this place three weeks 
later, they were the heroes of the whole country. 

The story of the battle of Fort Stephenson, the hurried prep- 
aration therefor, and its results in the War of 181 2 are given on 
a later page in the words of a contemporary. For this notable 
victory Croghan was brevetted lieutenant colonel by the president 
•of the United States; Congress awarded him a niedal. and the 



The Cros:han Cclehratioii. 



13 



ladies of Chillicothc, then the capital of Ohio, presented him with 
a beautiful sword. The famous repulse of August 2, 1813, marks 
the turnino- point in the war that ended in sweeping the haughty 
British navy from our Lakes, and hurling their army from our 
borders. 

Croghan remained in the army after the close of the war 
till March, 1817, when he resigned. In May, 1816, he mar- 
ried Serena Livingston, daughter of John R. Livingston, of New 
York, and niece of Chancellor Robert Livingston, famous as 
jurist and diplomat, who administered the oath of office to Wash- 
ington when he first became president of the United States, and 

who as minister to France negotiated 
with Bonaparte the Louisiana pur- 
chase. She was also a niece of the 
widow of Gen. Montgomery, of Que- 
bec fame. 

After resigning from the army 
Croghan took up his residence in 
Xew Orleans and was postmaster of 
that city in 1824. The following year 
he returned to the army as inspector 
general with rank of colonel and 
served as such with Gen. Taylor 
during the Mexican War, 1846-47. 

With such an ancestry and such 
an early environment it is slight 
wonder that the flame of patriotism burned intensely in the veins 
of Croghan. 

There was much of the Irish in our hero, as his impulsive 
speeches, which sometimes got him into trouble, easily testify ; 
and like well-born Irish everywhere, he was proud of his good 
blood, proud of his forebears, and determined not to bring dis- 
credit on their name. It is the best heritage atiy man can have, 
and Croghan, for one, knew it. 

Just before the attack on Fort Stephenson Croghan wrote a 
friend : 

"The enemy are not far distant. I expect an attack. I will 
defen<l this post to the last extremity. I have just sent away the 




GEiX. J. C. CHANCE. 



14 Ohio Arcli. and Hist. Society Publications. 

women and children, with the sick of the garrison, that I may 
be able to act without incumbrance. Be satisfied. I shall, I hope, 
do my duty. The example set me by my Revolutionary kindred 
is before me. Let me die rather than prove unworthy of their 
name." 

THE CELEBRATION. 

Thursday, August 2, 1906, dawned auspiciously on the his- 
toric city of Fremont. The Toledo battery which had arrived 
the night before and was stationed in Fort Stephenson aroused 
the people at sunrise with a salute of twenty-one guns, announc- 
ing that the events of the day had begun. Thousands of visitors 
from far and near, including many prominent officials of state and 
nation, made pilgrimage to the historic shrine of Fort Stephenson. 
The city was appropriately decorated and every hospitality and 
courtesy possible was extended by the citizens to their guests. 
At eight o'clock the casket of Major Croghan, which had been 
temporarily placed in the vault at Oakwood, was taken therefrbm 
and borne to the city, with military honors of music and soldiery 
escort. The line of march was over the old Harrison trail, 
through Spiegel Grove, down Buckland and Birchard avenues 
to Park avenue and then to the high school building where, in 
the hallway, the casket, draped with flags, was placed. (Guarded 
by a detachment of state troops the remains lay in state until the 
big parade of the day passed the school house, when the casket, 
borne on the shoulders of six stalwart members of the National 
Guard, was tenderly escorted to Fort Stephenson Park. The 
civic and military parade, which was the feature of the forenoon, 
was an imposing spectacle. It was headed by the city police force 
and fire department, followed by a provisional Brigade of the 
Ohio National Guard commanded by Brigadier General W. V. 
McMaken, O. N. G. the local and visiting posts of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, Spanish War ^^eterans, Masons, Wood- ■ 
men of the World and secret orders, German musical socie- 
ties, commercial organizations and school children waving the 
American emblem and singing patriotic songs. An interesting 
link in the procession brought the present event in close touch 
with the historic past, for in a spac.'-,MS carryall were Fremont's 
five Mexican War veterans, Captaiu Andrew KHne, his brother 



Tlic Ci'Oi>lian Celebration. 



15 



Louis Kline. Grant l-'orj^crson. Martin Zcijjlcr and Jacob Fallcr. 
They had all personally knuwn C'roj^han. The parade passed in 
review before the handsomely decorated stand at Croghan street 
and Park avenue, on which stood Vice President Fairbanks, Gov- 
ernor Harris, Mayor Tunnington, General Chance, Congressman 
Mouser, Hon. J. F. Laning and Hon. A. H. Jackson ; behind them 
the governor's staff. Col. Kautzman, Col. Weybrecht, Major Hall, 
Captain Williams, Capt. Knox, Capt. Garner, Capt. Wood and 




MEMBERS OF COMPANY K GUARDING CASKET. 



Lieut. Moulton. Vice President Fairbanks stood up in his auto- 
mobile almost the entire length of Front street, an,d with his hat 
in hand acknowledged the cheers and applause of the crowds, 
while Governor Harris kept bowing to people on both sides of 
the street in response to the cheers with which he was greeted. 
At the high school the procession halted and the Croghan remains 
were escorted from their resting place at the base of the monu- 
ment by the Gecrge Croghan Chapter of the D. A. R., the mem- 



16 



Ohio Arch, and Hist. Societx I'tiblications. 



bers of which had cliarge of the final interment. The childrers 
scattered flowers in the grave, a sahite was fired, taps were 
sounded, and the lionored dust of the gallant George Croghan 
was consigned to its final resting place on the spot and in the 
sacred soil he had so bravely and loyally defended ninety-three 
years before. The grave was covered with a large block of 
Quincy granite bearing this inscription : 

George Croghan 

Major 17th U. S. Infantry, 

Defender of Fort Stephenson, 

August 1st and 2d, 1813. 

Born Locust Grove, Ky. , Nov. 15, 1781. 

Died New Orleans, La., Jan. 8, 1849, 

Colonel Inspector General 

United States Army. 

Remains removed from 

Croghan Family Burying Ground, 

Locust Grove, Ky., 

August 2, 1906. 




MAJOR C. C. TIN- 
NINGTOX, 



The oratorical exercises were held in 
the afternoon in the open air within the 
precincts of the fort. Vast crowds gathered 
and listened intently to addresses. General 
Jesse C. Chance, of Fremont, was president 
of the day and introduced the speakers, 
alter the assembl}' had l)een called to order 
!)}■ Mayor C. C. Ttnuiington. The speeches 
were interspersed with [patriotic songs by 
the school children and martial strains by 
the Liiiht ( Inard I land. 



THE INVOCATION. 
REV. \V. E. TRESSEL, CHAPLAIN. 



God of our fathers, we praise and worship Thee ! Assembled on 
historic ground, which has been consecrated by heroes' blood, we not only 
hold in glad and grateful remembrance the noble deeds of valiant men. 



Tlic Crog/ian Celebration. 17 

l)in we proclaim Thy great glory, O Lord of hosts; for Thou art the 
(i()(l of !)attles, and right and truth triumph hy Thy blessing. And whilst 
we thank Thee for the brave men of tiiat older day who fought so nobly 
in freedom's holy cause, we give Thee laud and honor for the pa- 
tience, the skill, the industrj', t4irough which were won those notable 
victories of peace, no less renowned than those of war, that made the 
wilderness to blossom as the rose and laid the foundations for the 
splendid material prosperity which to-day is our portion. For health, 
and peace, and plenty, for home, good government, for our great educa- 
tional system, we give Thee thanks, O God. And richer gifts than these 
have Howed to us from Thy bounteous hand. Thou hast revealed to us 
Thy dear son, Jesus Christ, and hast made Him to be our Savior from 
the bondage of sin and from eternal death ; and in Thy precious word 
Thou hast conveyed to us Thy saving grace and power. Eternal praise be 
to Thee for these. Thy choicest gifts ! 

We pray Thee to continue to us Thy favor. To this end bless 
with repentance and faith : help us to renounce all sin and error, to love 
and to follow truth and righteousness, that we may hold fast what 
Thou hast in mercy given. Instil more and more into our hearts love 
of country. Do Thou use the exercises of this day to impress on our 
mind the responsibilities of citizenship. Awaken and quicken within us 
civic spirit. And thus let this memorable day on which we stand before 
Thy holy throne, result in countless blessings, for time and eternity, to us 
and to our children. 

"Our God, our help in ages past, 
Our hope for years to come^ 
Our shelter from the stormy blast, 
And our eternal home ! 

"Under the shadow of Thy throne 
Thy saints have dwelt secure : 
Sufficient is Thine arm alone. 
And our defence is sure. 

"Before the hills in order stood. 
Or earth received her frame, 
From everlasting Thou art God, 
For aye wilt be the same. 

"A thousand ages in Thy sight 
Are like an evening gone ; 
Swift as the watch that ends the night 
Before the rising sun. 
VoI.^XVI— 2. 



18 



Ohio Arch, and Hist. Socicfv Publications. 



'"Time, like an ever-rolling stream, 
Bears all its sons away : 
They fly, forgotten, as a dream 
Dies at the opening day. 

"O God, our help in ages past, 

Our hope for years to come. 
Be Thou our Guard while troubles last, 

And our eternal home !" 

Thou, who hearest prayer, for Jesus' sake give ear to these our 
prayers and praises, which we sum up in the words of our Lord : 

Our Father, Who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name; Thy 
kingdom come ; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven ; Give us 
this day our daily bread ; And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive 
those who trespass against us ; And lead us not into temptation, but 
deliver us from evil ; For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the 
glory, forever and ever. Amen ! 



ADDRESS OF HON. SAMUEL D. DODGE. 

When your fellow citizen, Col. Webb C. Hayes, asked me to ad- 
dress you upon this occasion, and I accepted the invitation, I did so 

with the full appreciation that I should be 
able to add nothing to the historical in- 
formation which you citizens of Sandusky 
County possessed, I should be able to say 
no word which could in any way increase 
yorir admiration for the distinguished 
youth, who, almost a century ago, stood 
near this spot, and with one gun and a 
few brave soldiers routed the British 
forces and their Indian allies. 

You citizens of Sandusky Count}' have 
studied your histories well; 3'ou have 
shown full appreciation for the courage 
displayed on that occasion and you have 
honored many times the memory and 
deeds of the distinguished Soldier. Stu- 
dents of American history have related to 
you the causes that led up to the War of 
eminent writers have described to you the campaign preceding the 




SAMiTcr. I). iKji)(_;i-:. 



181-J 



attack on Fort Stephenson ; and distinguished orators, with brilliant 
phrases, have pictured to you the handsome youth standing upon the ram- 
parts of Fort Stephenson, and amid the yells of savages and the fierce at- 
tacks of the veterans of Wellington urging his little band to deeds of hero- 



The Croghan Celebration. 19 

ism. The life and deeds of George Croghan are familiar tales in every 
household of this historic neighborhood. Your fellow townswoman, Miss 
Julia M. Haynes, in her admirable paper, "Fremont in History," read to 
you a few years ago, has given us a clear, concise and eloquent statement 
of the events which have made your city famous. Dr. Charles R. Williams, 
in his public address delivered at Spiegel Grove, a few years since, has 
added to the historical literature of Fremont a brilliant and polished essay, 
and other distinguished men and women have placed before you the 
geography, history, and traditions of your town in pamphlet and speech. 
You have listened to the thrilling eloquence of General Gibson and the 
polished sentences of Governor Jacob D. Cox, and at that memorable 
meeting when you dedicated this handsome monument, a meeting pre- 
sided over by your distinguished citizen, Rutherford B. Hayes, you lis- 
tened to the voices of Sherman, Foraker, Henry B. Payne and others. 
That I could add anything to what has been said and written concerning 
these historical events, I have not for a moment dared to hope, but per- 
haps a personal allusion, if I may be allowed, will partially explain my 
presumption and willingness to accept this invitation. 

On July 9th, 1813, there was born in my grandfather's house in 
Cleveland, a son, and for several weeks no agreement could be reached 
as to the name he was to bear. Less than a month after the child's 
birth, from every hill top to every valley, from settlement to settlement 
of pioneers along shores of Lake Erie came the news that Major George 
Croghan, a young man, had put to rout the English and Indians and 
saved Fort Stephenson, and my grandfather's family had found a name 
for their son, and to-day there is a grave in Lake View cemetery in 
Cleveland and at its head a simple granite monument with the inscription 
George Croghan Dodge, born July 9th, 1813, died June 6th. 1883; and 
so I regard it as a privilege to pay a simple tribute to-day to a man 
whose name my father bore, the story of whose achievement told me in 
my boyhood was a narrative to which no tale of giants or fairies could 
compare. 

Fifty years before the defense of Ft. Stephenson or "Sandusky," as 
the name was engraved on the gold medal presented by congress to the 
peerless Croghan, this historic neighborhood had been the scene of the 
capture and utter destruction at the outbreak of Pontiac's gigantic con- 
spiracy of old Fort Sandusky, built in 1745 on the left or west side 
of Sandusky bay and river on the Marblehead peninsula. 

"The storm burst early in May of 1763. * * * Nine British forts 
yielded instantly and the savages drank, scooped up in the hollow of 
joined hands, the blood of many a Briton. * * * Sandusky was the 
first of the forts to fall. May 16th. Ensign Paully * * * was seized, 
carried to Detroit, adopted, and married to a squaw, who had lost her 
husband, the remainder of the garrison were massacreed and the fort 
burned." 



20 Ohio .IrcJi. and Hist. Society Publications. 

Fort S;Mulusk\-, the tirsl fort established in Ohio, was built in ITi-^t by 
British traders from Pennsylvania and Virginia under the instruction, it 
is said, of George Croghan, later deputy Indian Commissioner to Sir. 
Wm. Johnston. It was located on ' the Marblehead peninsula on the 
left or west side of the Sandusky river and bay at the portage where 
Indians and trappers coming from Dctnni. in their course skirting 
the chain of islands in Lake Erie", would l.nnd id carry their canoes 
across to the Sandusky river on their way to the Scioto and Ohio. 
The French, resenting this intrusion, "usurped F. Sandoski" and in 1T54 
liuilt another fort, "Junundat." on the east or right side of the Sandusky 
river and bay. The maps of John Mitchell and Lewis Evans, both pub- 
lished in 1775, clearly show' the location of these two forts, 

Mitchell's map shows the fort on the west side of the river and 
bay with the notation "Sandoski usurped by the French, 1751," while 
Evans' map has "F Sando.ski" on the west side and also "F Junundat 
built in 1754" on the east side of the river and bay and diagonally across 
from '"Sandoski." 

■'Sandusky was afterward evacuated and on the 8th of September, 
1760, the French governor, Vandreueil surrendered Canada to the Eng- 
lish" and then ended French dominion in America. ""^Major Robert Rogers, 
a native of New Hampshire, was directed to take possession of the west- 
ern forts. He left Montreal on the 13th of September, 1760, with two 
hundred rangers. * ' * Proceeding west, he visited Sandusky * * * 
after securing the fort at Detroit returned liy land via Sandusky and 
and Tuscarawas trail to Fort Pitt." 

Soon after Major Rogers took possession of the western forts for 
the British, Ensign Paully was placed in command of Fort Sandusky and 
so remained until his capture, and the massacre of his garrison and the 
utter destruction of the fort on May 16, 1763, at the outbreak of Pon- 
tiac's conspiracy. As soon as the news of the capture of the nine British 
forts reached the British authorities, Detroit and Fort Pitt alone escap- 
ing capture, expeditions were sent to relieve the latter and to re-establish 
British supremacy in the northwest. Captain Dalyell arrived at the 
ruins of old Fort Sandusky in the fall of 1763 and then proceeded up 
the Sandusky river to the village of the Hurons and Wyandots at the 
lower rapids of the Sandusky river (now Fremont) and utterly destroyed 
the Indian villages located there. 

In 1764, twelve years before the declaration of Independence, Col. 
John Bradstreet started from Albany to relieve Major Gladwyn at De- 
troit. Pontiac, the crafty, powerful and ambitious chief of the Ottawa 
Indians, the year before, had sent his red-stained tomahawk and his 
war belts to the various Tndian tribes between the Allegheny mountains 
and the Mississippi river, stirring the hearts of the red men against the 
pioneers, and was preparing to continue his attacks upon the various 
western forts, and in his hatred toward the whites was determined 



The Cro^^ha)! Celebration. 21 

to acc(inii)li>h hy torcL' wliat lio cmild iiul acconiplisli hy Iruaclicr} lie 
had iH'luriK'd from Detrnii in Novemljer, ITd.'i. and it was (.'vidcnt thai 
he was ])r(.'iiarin!i- lor a more complete siege of that important military 
post. it was then that (ieneral Thomas Gage wrote the Colonies and 
asked for trtiops to suppress the growing insurrection of the Indian na- 
tions: and Colonel Bradstreet set forth from Albany with his army of 
1U^(| men. 7ii(i lieing provincial troops from New York, New Jersey and 
Connecticni nnder Israel Putnam. Along they came to Lake Ontario 
and with two vessels. 75 whale boats, and numberless canoes, issued 
forth and steered westward. Remaining a while at Fort Niagara, passing 
on and founding Fort Erie, they pushed on to Detroit after making 
short encampments on the banks of the Cuyahoga river, on the present 
site of Cleveland, and at the ruins of old Fort Sandusky. All along the 
journey Indians had been sent to treat for peace, but knowing from 
experience the treacherous character of the Indians, Bradstreet was warned 
against putting trust in the overtures of the savages. Yet notwithstanding 
the protests of his followers, Bradstreet promised to refrain from march- 
ing against the Delawares, Shawanese and other tribes, if within tvventy- 
five days the representatives of the tribes would meet him at Fort San- 
dusky for the purpose of giving up prisoners and concluding a definite 
treaty. Bradstreet had. however, been ordered to give to the Wyandots, 
Ottawas and JNliamis a thorough chastisement, but on the approach of 
the English commander these three tribes sent deputies to meet him 
and promised to follow him to Detroit and make a treaty there, if he 
would abandon the hostile plan against them. It was with this expecta- 
tion that he reached Detroit, only to learn that the Indians whom he 
had expected to meet on his return to Fort Sandusky for the purpose 
of making a treaty, had assembled there to oppose the disembarkment 
of the English soldi-ers. So Bradstreet started with sixty long boats and 
one barge and glided down the Detroit river out upon the bosom of 
Lake Erie. All expected to engage in a fierce combat with the savage 
foe, but Bradstreet soon received better news. With this expedition of 
Bradstreet was one Lieutenant Montresor, who kept a journal, and this 
journal has been preserved among the collections of the New York 
Historical Society. From the journal we learn that "news soon arrived 
that the Delawares and Shawanese are assembled at Sandusky where the 
old fort stood in order to treat with us for peace." With this information 
Bradstreet's "troops entered Sandusky lake or bay" September 18, 1764, 
and "encamped on a good clay bank half a mile west of the spot where 
sixteen months before Pontiac had butchered the English garrison and 
burned the fort." Indians soon appeared and pledged if he would not at- 
tack the Indian village they would conclude a definite treaty and surrender 
all prisoners they had. Bradstreet did not attack them. After waiting 
seven days "Col. Bradstreet then proceeded up Sandusky river to the 
village of the Hurons and Wyandot';, which had been destroyed by Cap- 



22 Ohio .ircli. and Hist. Society Publications. 

tain Dalyell the preceding year." Montresor in his journal says "Brad- 
street's whole force proceeded and encamped one mile below the rapids 
of the Sandusky River, and here at this camp near the Huron village 
on Sandusky river. Major Israel Putnam served as Field Officer for the 
picket and presided at a General Court Martial at his own tent to try 
all prisoners brought before him."* So to this very spot, now Fort 
Stephenson Park, Fremont, Ohio, fresh with the laurels won while in 
command of Provincial troops in the siege of Havana, Cuba, with this 
expedition came Israel Putnam, who afterwards became Senior Major 
General in the army of the United States of America, one of the heroes 
of Bunker Hill, an indomitable soldier, a man of generous soul and 
sterling patriotism, and of whom his biographer. Col. David Humphreys, 
say<. "He seems to have been formed on purpose for the age in which 
he lived. His native courage, unshaken integrity, and established repu- 
tation as a soldier gave unbounded confidence to our troops in their first 
conflict in the field of battle." 

The colonial records of Connecticut for March, 1764, says this as- 
sembh- doth appoint Israel Putnam, Esq., to be major of the forces now 
ordered raised in this colony for his Majesty's service against the In- 
dian Nations who have been guilt}' of perfidious and cruel massacres of 
the English. 

Thus to the long list of patriots and statesmen and pioneers, who 
in the early days wandered through the densely wooded trails, over these 
plains which smiled to the sun in grass and flowers, and along the banks 
of this historic river; to the names of Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, 
William Henry Harrison, George Croghan and a host of others we can 
add the immortal name of Israel Putnam. 

The fifty odd years between the campaign of Bradstreet and the 
War of 1812, the years preceding and following the Revolutionary War 
are filled with the stirring events of pioneer history. Northern Ohio was 
the scene of border wars and Indian outrages. The massacre of the Mo- 
ravians, Crawford's Expedition, the destruction of St. Clair's army, and 
the victory of General Wayne at Fallen Timbers are a few of the many 
important events that go to make up the history of the region around 
the Maumee and Sandusky rivers. The disasters to the American arms 
incident to the opening of the campaign of the War of 1812 in the north- 
west — the disgraceful surrender of Hull at Detroit, the massacre of Win- 
chester's men at the River Raisin, and Dudley's massacre, so-called, in the 
otherwise successful defence of Fort Meigs culminated, however, on 
August 2, 1813, in the unparalleled discomfiture of the British and In- 
dians by a young Kentucky major. This defense, so brilliant and com- 
plete, followed by Perry's Victory on Lake Erie and General Harrison's 
triumph at the battle of the Thames practically closed the campaign. 

* Livingstone's Tj'fe i)f T^^a^'! Putnam, p. 139. 



The Croghan Celebration. 23 

The war of 1812 only supplemented the Revolutionary War. We 
had become at once independent and feeble. Articles of confederation 
bound u.-^ loosely together, and we had not yet fully won our place 
among the nations of the earth. Other nations looked upon us as an 
easy prey — they could seize our ships and imprison our seamen, but these 
results were only incidents which gave rise to the conflict for which the 
time was ripe and for which there was and could be no postponement. 
This war must be had. We must consolidate and finish the work of 
independence. It must be a reality and not a name, England must ac- 
knowledge us as a distinct member of the family of nations, and this is 
what we accomplished by the contest of 1812 and 1813. When that war 
broke out the Indians were banded together in this Northwestern quar- 
ter of the state under the leadership of Tecumseh, to whom the English 
had given the rank of a general in their army. There was no city of 
Fremont. The spot called Lower Sandusky was a military reservation two 
miles square, established by treaty in 1785. Here was built Fort Stephen- 
son — one of the many outposts in the midst of this hostile country. Built 
to protect the communications of the army with the more distant posts 
at Chicago and Detroit ; built perhaps that a crossing at this point of this 
then important river might be rnade in safety. Up this Sandusky river 
from the lake came all who wished to reach the Ohio river on their way 
from Canada to Mississippi for, with a short portage, they could enter 
the Scioto and then on down to the great rivers beyond. It was an im- 
portant place then for a growing settlement, a vigorous colony might 
be started here and Major Croghan appreciated its importance even if 
Harrison did not. The English had made allies of the Indians. Te- 
cumseh was made a general. British emissaries were busy among the 
Northwest tribes stirring them up to war upon the Americans. Gen- 
eral Proctor, with his savage allies had failed to capture Fort Meigs, 
and Proctor had withdrawn to his old encampment and there he re- 
mained until on July 28th, 1813, the British embarked with their stores 
and started for Sandusky bay and river for the purpose of attacking 
Fort Stephenson. Again and again have you heard the story of this 
fight. How General Harrison had sent word to Major Croghan that 
if the British approached with force and cannon and he could discover 
them in time to retreat, that he must do so. How Harrison in council 
with his other Generals had decided that the fort was untenable and 
ordered him to abandon it. How the messenger lost his way, and when 
he did arrive Croghan sent back word to Harrison the memorable mes- 
sage, "We have determined to maintain this place, and by heavens we 
can." The natural anger of General Harrison at this seeming diso- 
bedience to his order and the summoning of Croghan to come to Fort 
Seneca and the placing of another in command until the gallant boy 
bad explained and appeased the wrath of his superior and was sent back to 
bis post, are familiar facts of history. On the afternoon of August 1st, 



24 



Oliio Arch, and Hist. Socictx rithllcatioiis. 



1813, we fiiul tlic young hero hack in command and with KiO men and 
"Old Betsy," sending back to Proctor with his 700 veterans, 2,000 In- 
dians and Barclay's gunboats in the river, a defiant refusal to his summons 
to surrender. 

General Harrison, in his report to the Secretary of War. thus de- 
scribes the battle. "Their troops were formed into two columns, one led 
by Lieut. -Colonel Short, headed the principal one. He conducted his men 
to the brink of the ditch under a galling fire from the garrison, and 
by Lieut. -Colonel Shortt headed the principal one. He conducted his men 
and the light infantry. At this moment a masked porthole was sud- 




s' vij^i 



.XTTACK ox FORT STEPIl EX.'^OX. 



denly opened and the six-jiounder. with a half-load of ])owdL'r and a 
double charge of leaden slugs, at a distance of thirty feet, poured destruc- 
tion upon them, and killed or wounded every man who entered the ditch. 
In vain did the British officers try to lead on the balance of the colunni. 
It retired under a shower of shot, and sought safety in the adjoining 
woods." 

And who was this young man who defended this place against a 
force of British and Indians and drove them discomfited from the field 
of battle. We seem to see him now as he stood there a model of manly 
beauty in his youthful prime, ''a man in all that makes a man ere man- 



The Croghan Celebration. - 2& 

hood's years have been fuH'illed"'; standing on llie threshuld of his 
career. This young, accomplished, handsome youth was born at Locust 
Grove, Ky., November 15, 1791. His mother was Lucy Clark. Of 
uncles he had upon his mother's side, George Rogers Clark, whose great 
campaign through the wilderness won for us the Northwest Territory 
was one ; and William Clark, who with Captain Lewis made the famous 
Lewis and Clark expedition of exploration across the continent, was 
another. His father, William Croghan, was born in Ireland in 1752, 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and fought at Brandywine, 
Monmouth and Germantown, and when young George had finished 
his preliminary schooling he entered at the age of 17 the College of 
William and Mary and graduated two years later with the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts. His purpose was to become a lawyer, but when the 
governor of Indiana, William Henry Harrison, called for volunteers to 
strike at Tccumseh and his stirring red men, Croghan joined the little 
army as a private and began his life as a soldier at the battle of 
Tippecanoe. 

From that day until General Harrison sent him to this place, the 
spirit of the soldier in him had met every test of skill and bravery, and 
he took command of Fort Stephenson with the confidence of his su- 
periors and with the love and admiration of his soldiers. In a report 
of this battle by an English historian occurs this sentence : "The first 
division were so near the enemy that they could distinctly hear the various 
orders given in the fort and the faint voices of the wounded and dying 
in the ditch, calling out for water, which the enemy had the humanity 
to lower to them on the instant." 

Over in that beautiful cemetery at Clyde, on its sunkissed slopes, 
bright with the foliage of this August day, rests one who, fifty years 
after the defense of Fort Stephenson, honored this country, his state and 
his country by his conduct upon the field of battle — General James B. Mc- 
Pherson, as good a soldier, as chivalrous a leader, as gallant a gentle- 
man, as pure a man as ever fell upon the field of battle. General Sher- 
man says of him "History tells us of but few who so blended the grace 
and gentleness of the friend with the dignity, courage, faith and man- 
liness of the soldier." Now Sandusky County has gathered to herself 
all that remains of another hero, her first if not her greatest. Here under 
the shadow of this monument among the people who love to do him honor, 
on the very spot he so gallantly defended, will he lie 

Till mouldering worlds and tumbling systems burst; 
When the last trump shall renovate his dust. 
Till by the mandate of eternal truth. 
His soul will flourish in immortal youth. 

Such names as Croghan and AlcPherson are like the sound of a 



26 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

trumpet. They are the precious jewels of our nation's history, to be 
gathered up among the treasures of the nation and kept immaculate from 
the tarnishing breath of the cynic and the doubter. 

My Friends ; Wars are cruel. They crush with bloody heel all 
justice, all happiness, all that is God-like in Man. We have but to 
read the History of Nations to discern the hideous slaughters which 
have marked their progress, and yet man is such a savage that until 
the present generation he has insisted that the only way to settle things 
is by the gage of battle. He has covered a hundred battle fields with 
men and horses ; with the groans of the wounded and the dying. He 
has covered the pages of our history with gore, and if history, such 
history as you have learned here on the banks of this gentle flowing 
river that for a half a century had been the scene of strife and battle, 
if such history I say, cannot cultivate out of man the brutal spirit of 
war, teach him the wisdom of diplomacy and the need of arbitration, 
then has the lesson been lost and he has failed to taste the fruit or 
imbibe the philosophy of humanity. It is for us to substitute law for 
war, reason for force, courts of reason for the settlement of contro- 
versies among nations following up the maintenance of the law with the 
A^italizing forces of civilization until all nations are molded into one 
International Brotherhood, yielding to reason and conscience. Then can 
we draw the sword from its sheath and fling it into the sea rejoicing 
that it has gone forever. Let us recognize this truth and today on this 
anniversary we will lay a new stone in the temple of Universal Peace. 
This temple which shall rise to the very firmament and be as broad as 
the ends of the earth. May such occasions as this lead us away from 
an era of wars and battleships and new navies and bring us to a time 
when Patriotism and Humanity can be compatible one with another and 
■to a time 

When navies are forgotten 
And fleets are useless things, 

When the dove shall warm her bosom 
Beneath the eagle's wings. 

When memory of battles. 

At last is strange and old. 
When nations have one banner 

And creeds have found one fold. 

Then Hate's last note of discord 

In all God's world shall cease, 
In the conquest which is service 
In the victory which is peace! 



The Croghan Celebration. 



27 



ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS. 



VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

I am gratified, indeed, to be present and participate with you for 
a brief while upon this historic occasion. I have not come to make a 
formal speech, nor did I come to make you a speech at all. According 
to the programme. I am to indulge only in a few "remarks." 

What I shall say to you shall be born of the moment. I have 
brought with me no well-turned phrases. I have come simply to join 
Vvith you in paying tribute to the memory of men who did valiant service 

in the cause of the Republic in the long 
ago. 

The spot whereon we stand is sacred 
ground, for wherever men have fought in 
the cause of American liberty, that ground 
is sacred and ever will be held so. 

George Croghan is a name that is in- 
delibly written in the history of the Re- 
public, and this great community honors 
Itself when it brings back his remains 
from the sunny South and gives them 
sepulcher in the soil hallowed by his 
genius and valor. 

We bring to-day beneath this beautiful 
summer sky a tribute of our gratitude 
for what he did for us and for our suc- 
cessors in the centuries which stretch be- 
fore us with so much promise. We lay the 
remains of this brave soldier to their everlasting sleep beneath the shade 
of yonder monument. 

I wish we knew the names of the hundred and sixty men who stood 
with him August 2, 1813, that we might call the roll of them here to- 
day and pay to them the tribute of our gratitude and our admiration. 
The brave commander who rendered illustrious service here in a critical 
period of the war of 181-2, is known to us and his name is upon our 
lips and it will be sung by our children in days to come, but his brave 
compatriots are unknown. The one hundred and sixty men who stood 
here — as brave men as ever placed their lives upon the sacrificial altar 
of their country — are known, for God Almighty knows men who go 
■down to the Ijattle field to preserve American institutions for ages to 
come. 

There is one brave young man. who stood with Croghan, whose 
name we cannot forget, and v.'hich we recall with pride and satisfaction, 
and that is the name of Ensign Shipp. When the British General Proctor 




C. W. FAIRBANKS. 



28 Ohio .Ircli. and Hist. Society J'liblicatioits. 

came bearing a riag of truce, supported by an army trained m the art 
of arms — five hundred British, eight hundred savages, I behevc, twelve 
himdred in all, — against an hundred and sixty-one, commander and 
soldiery, it was believed that the flag of truce would win a complete 
surrender of the small garrison. But the British commander knew little 
of the metal that was in George Croghan and Ensign Shipp and the 
hundred and fifty-nine others who shared with them the fortunes of 
war. The young commander who had barely reached his majority sent 
to meet the officers bearing the flag of truce, this young Ensign, yoimger 
still than himself. The British officer demanded the surrender of the 
garrison. The Ensign answered — and history can never forget his an- 
swer : "My commandant and the garrison," said he. "are determined 
to defend the post to the last extremity and bury ourselves in its ruins 
rather than surrender to any force whatever." 

It was pointed out by tlic British commander that resistance would, 
probably result in massacre b}- the savages. To this suggestion the 
Ensign defiantly replied : "When the fort shall be taken there will be 
none to massacre. It will not be given up while a man is able to 
resist." 

This was the note of sublime heroism. It was essentially the 
answer of a brave American patriot. It was a sentiment kindred to 
one uttered by General Grant during the Civil War. The great General, 
as I remember, in one of his campaigns, crossed a river and sought an 
engagement with the enemy with the river in his rear, and with only 
one transport. When it was suggested that this was, perhaps, inade- 
quate provision in the event of the necessity of a retreat, the great 
captain of our armies made the laconic reply that if he was obliged to 
retreat, one transport would be sufficient. 

As Shipp made his way back to the fort. Major Croghan awaited 
him. The latter knew the British would demand surrender and that 
the brave Ensign would decline to accede to his demand. As the fort 
opened for the Ensign's return, Croghan said : "Come in Shipp and 
we will blow them all to Hell." That was a naughty word. (A voice: 
"But it was the right one under the circumstances.") Yes, you are 
right. If it was ever to be used, then was the occasion to use it, and 
I think that a word like that, used in the cause of liberty, is a dis- 
infected word. 

rTh.c Vice-President indicated he was about to close. Several 
voices: "Go on! Go on!") 

I do not want to talk longer than it took George Croghan to lick 
the British and the savages here. He illustrated better than any man 
can that it is not words wdiich win victories, but it is deeds that accom- 
plish them. 

Fellow citizens, American liberty has cost something. Tt is a 
singular fact that those great blessings to the human race which it 
most longs for, which it most prays for, alw.ays come at the greatest 



The Croi:[hait Celebration. 



29 



cost. Humanity, in all her march, hack from the early mist of history, 
down to this prcsLMit lic_)ur. lia^ won liur \-ictories for lihi.-rl\' mainly 
upon the battle field. W'j who are here to-day arc in the enjoyment 
of liberty which was won upon the field of l)altle. We are a great, 
liappy, contented nation of eighty millions. We look out across the sea 
to the Empire of Russia, with her one hundred and forty millions 
struggling with the great proi)lenK of luunan liberty. We see their wars, 
we see their massacres, we see their blood.s'.ied unspeakable. We each 
and every one wish that those people could come out of the bondage 
of iron rule into the glad sunshine of liberty. 

America Ins had five wars: the War of the American Revolution; 
liie War of li<\'2 which made us forever secin-e against the efforts of 



'^^ 


■■^^■'•^H 




^'^: fl 




1 


- 1 - . ^ \ 


m 


Ntek 


» ^''**^^W^m"^^^^^^^^^^^» »' 


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3Biytei!i3S3H9l^r 





VICE PRES. FAIRBANKS IN PARADE. 



Great Britain to wrest liberty from us — the liberty fought for by our 
continental fathers ; the war with Mexico was the third, and I am glad 
to sec here to-day and take by the hand several of the survivors of the 
war with Alexico. Their presence is an inspiration. It is a curious 
coincidence that there is now present a man who knew Croghan in the 
Mexican War. It seems to carry us back from the present to the very 
presence of the hero of Fort Stephenson. Then the war of the great 
Rebellion — the mightiest war in the history' of man. There are here 
to-day scores of men bearing upon their breasts the evidence of their 
loyalty to the Union in the hour of its supremest exigency. And later 
came the war with Spain. 

These five wars were fought by the people of the United States, 



30 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

not to enslave men but to make men free, to enlarge in a vast degree 
the zone of Republican government. 

All honor to George Croghan and his heroic band. All honor 
to the soldiers of the revolution. All honor to the soldiers of the 
Mexican war. All honor to the soldiers of the Union. All honor to 
the soldiers of the Spanish-American war. The American people honor 
them. They honor them each and all. They hold them forever within 
the embrace of their fondest memory. 

Fellow citizens, it would be impossible for me to close these few 
words without expressing that appreciation to Col. Webb C. Hayes 
which is in the hearts of all of us here to-day. It is a happy circum- 
-stance that he, a soldier himself, and a son of one of the brave defenders 
of the Union in the Civil War, should thoughtfully and generously bring 
Lack from the soil of Kentucky where he was sleeping his everlasting 
sleep the remains of this brave, fearless leader, in order that they might 
rest here amid the theater of his immortal achievements. 

All honor to Colonel Hayes for what he has so splendidly done, 
and all honor to the comm.unity which respects and preserves the memory 
of those who have served so well in the cause of their country. 

I will leave you, my friends, and' I leave you with regret. I leave 
you, however, with the confident hope that you will go forward in the 
enjoyment of peace and happiness which are the legitimate fruits of 
those who fought here and elsewhere for Republican government. 

ADDRESS OF GENERAL ANDREW L. HARRIS. 

GOVERNOR OF OHIO. 

The cliairman has stated tliat I will makf a few remarks, and this 
is truly said. When your committee came to Columbus to invite me to 
participate on this occasion I frankly told them that it would be im- 
possible for me to make any preparation, liul that I could come provid- 
ing no speech was expected of me, and, fellow citizens. Col. Hayes 
gladly accepted the promise, and it was with tliat understanding that I 
am here to-day, for the purpose of participating with j-ou in my pres- 
ence more than by words or speech on this memorable occasion. 

I sometimes think that we have never given sufficient importance 
in history to the gallant deeds that were performed here in 1813. You 
remember that up to that time the results of the war seemed against us. 
We had met many reverses, but it was Col. Croghan and his 160 men 
who won one of the most important victories, according to the numbers 
engaged on our side and the numbers of the enemy, that is recorded 
in American history. It was from this moment that the tide of the 
battle turned in our favor. From that time victory after victory followed 
until in a few months' time the war was ended, and victory seemed 
vouchsafed to us so far a^ the mother country was concerned, the 



The Cro^han Celebration. 



31 



liberty that we are enjoying to-day, and I wish to say that upon this 
spot, this historic spot thnt the tide turned in favor of the American 
nation, in the war of 18l"i-13. How unfortunate you are to have within 
your corporate Hmits the most historic spot in the United States of 
America. I never stood upon this ground, upon this battlefield until to- 
day. My mind turns back to my youthful days, when I read of the 

bravery of Croghan and his 160 men, and I 
often thought it was a miracle, he being a 
mere youth and only 160 men, and de- 
fending the fort against so many British 
and Indians. But it was done, and from 
that day to this, this spot has been a his- 
toric spot, a spot that is dear in the minds 
of our American citizens. 

Now, there are others to make a few 
remarks, and I want to give them a chance 
to make them, and I only want to say in 
conclusion that I congratulate the city of 
Fremont in the respect and love that it has 
shown for this spot, and its great defender. 
I want to congratulate the city of Fremont 
for having in your midst a young soldier 
w^ho is aiding to keep this a historic spot, 
dearer and dearer each year in the mem- 
ory of the American people, in the person of Col. Webb C. Hayes. 
I thank you for your attention for you must be getting tired and I 
will leave you. saying that I am glad it was my privilege to be with 
you to-day. and I will ever remember this meeting as long as I live. 
This day will be deep in my memory. 




GOVERNOR HARRIS. 



ADDRESS OF E. O. RANDALL. 



SECRETARY OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

The only apology I have for the honor of appearing before you on 
this interesting occasion is that my college friend of years ago, your 
splendid, patriotic and enterprising fellow-citizen. Colonel Webb. C. 
Hayes, invited me to come; his apology being that I am an official of 
the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, whose business it 
is to gather, preserve and disseminate the lore, historic and prehistoric 
of our great state. The orator of the day, the Hon. Samuel D. Dodge, 
has recited to you in graphic terms the history that led up to the 
siege of Fort Stephenson and the incomparable bravery and patriotism 
with which the j^outh George Croghan and his gallant little band defended 
the crude stockade fort and stemmed the tide, that to that moment seemed 
against the Americans. The successful repulse of Proctor and the British 



S'2 



Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 



soldiers and Tccumsch, with his hundreds of braves, was the first real 
victor}- on Oliio soil in the War of 1812. That \vt may all the more 
appreciate the extent and significance of that event, let us for purposes 
of comparison look to other parts of the world, and note some of the 
stupendous acts that were bemg performed in the theatre of great 
things. In this very month, indeed on this very day and the days fol- 
lowing, in August, 1813, Bolivar, known as the Liberator and often called 
the Washington of South America, as the head of several hundred vol- 
unteer revolutionists, was entering as conqueror, Caracas, the capital of 
Venezuela, which country was thus freed from the oppression of Spanish 
monarchial rule and became one of the first republics of South America. 
In Europe a greater scene was being enacted. The incomparable Napo- 
leon was engaged in that series of military movements on the banks 
of the Elbe, which were the crowning events of his generalship and the 
culmination of his career. At this date (August 1813) Napoleon was 
approaching Dresden with an army of 100,000 
troups and upon that field he defeated 150,000 of 
the allied forces. Two months later on the nearby 
famous field of Leipsic with 150.000, the flower of 
the French army, he was overwhelmed by the tre- 
mendous host of 250,000 soldiers under the com- 
bined powers of Europe. It was a crushing defeat 
for the sublime rogue of Corsica, the greatest mili- 
tary genius of modern times. These stupendous 
events shook the foundations of European dynas- 
ties, but were contests not for humanity and liberty 
-<i much as for the supremacy of one form of 
monarchy over another. Not on the banks of the 
Elbe, but here on this picturesque spot, on the banks 
of the peaceful little Sandusky, in the wild woods 
of the Ohio Valley, devoid of the "pomp and circumstance" of gigantic 
war. was lieing fougiit the battle for freedom and the best form of demo- 
cratic government ever given tnan. Here, in this little stockade fort George 
Croghan, a native American lad. with but loO men, heroes of struggle and 
sacrifice with a might almost miraculous, repelled the forces of the British 
under Proctor, with 500 of the weathered veterans of the Peninsula War, 
the trained troops of the victorious Wellington and two thousand or more 
Indian braves under command of Tecumseh, the most sagacious and 
daring leader of his race. How did George Croghan do it? He had 
the versatility as well as the valor of the pioneer soldier. He had but 
one mounted gim, "Old Betsy," whose venerable presence now stands 
guard over the new grave of her old commander, — this one cannon 
Croghan so deftly shifted behind the stockade walls, firing a .shot now 
through one port-hole and then through another, that the enemy were 
fooled into the idea that Fort Stephenson was "chuck full" of firing 




(J. RANDALL. 



The Croghan Celebration. 33 

Betsies. The bravery of this American boy and his dauntless band ex- 
ceeded in results for the betterment of humanity and the advance of 
civilization all the campaigns combined of Napoleon and his antagonists. 
Croghan and his 160 followers were victorious because they were typical 
pioneer Americans — Americans, a new type of character in the history 
of the world. Someone has said that God sifted four races to produce 
the American. Each one of you within the sound of my voice can 
vividly recollect how on that magnificent May morning, 1898, Dewey 
sailed into the Bay of Manila and almost in the twinkling of an eye sunk 
the Spanish fleet, without the loss of a single American sailor and 
scarcely the scratching of the paint from any of the American ships. 
We thought that that was the most unparalleled event in history and 
could never be repeated, but in sixty days thereafter it was encored in 
the Bay of Santiago when the fleet of Cervera emerged and on that 
July Sunday morning left the bay for the sea to encounter the storm 
of fire and shot from the ships of Sampson and Schley. The war cor- 
respondent of the London Times, one who for the last forty years had 
been an eye-witness of the chief military and naval feats, both in the 
old world and the new, gave in his paper a most graphic picture of this 
battle of Santiago, which he viewed from the deck of one of the American 
vessels. At the close of his vivid description, he made the significant 
remark that the behavior of the American sailor was one of the most 
marvelous exhibitions of coolness, bravery and accuracy he had ever wit- 
nessed. Said he, "I verily believe that had those rival seamen exchanged 
places, namely, had the Spanish sailors possessed the modern, thoroughly 
equipped American ships and thus emerged from the bay, and had the 
American sailors possessed the decrepid and time-worn ships of Spain, 
the result would have been the same, namely, that the Americans 
would have won the victory, because that victory was won by the char- 
acter of the American boy who manned the American ships." The 
American boy, Croghan, who defended Fort Stephenson against such tre- 
mendous odds was the same type as the sailors of Dewey and Sampson 
and Schley and the followers of the generals who led in the Spanish 
War. It is related that when the Sultan of Turkey heard of the great 
victory of the Americans at Manila and Santiago, he sent for the Amer- 
ican ambassador and asked him if the reports of the marvelous feats 
of the Americans were true. The ambassador replied that they were, 
when the sultan asked if he could buy ships and guns like those which 
the Americans employed. The ambassador told him that he supposed 
the sultan could get them, they were made in America for money by 
great manufacturers. "Then," said the sultan, "I will buy some of them 
that I may win great victories." "Oh," said the ambassador, "that you 
can do ; but you cannot buy the American boys to man them for you." 
It is of such men and boys as those who fought the American Revolution, 
Vol. XVI— 3. 



34 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

the \\'ar of 1812, of 1848, the Rebellion of 61-5 and the Spanish War 
that this republic is composed. Your Vice-President and your Governor 
have told you in eloquent language of the heroism and patriotism of 
the American soldiers in those wars for independence, unity, liberty and 
humanity. It is a noble record of a noble people and in that record 
Ohio has taken a most conspicuous part. Three thousand Revolutionary 
soldiers, scarred and wearied after the battles for independence, came 
across the Alleghanies to estabhsh homes for their declining years in the 
peaceful and fruitful plains and valleys of Ohio. Their lives had been 
dedicated to independence and freedom and their buried bones made 
sacred the soil of Ohio. The seed of that Revolutionary patriotism 
ripened into an hundred fold in the war for the national Union, for 
300,000 loyal recruits went forth from the "Buckeye State" to fight on 
the battle-fields of the Sunny South for the preservation of the republic 
whose foundation was laid by their revered sires. In the crypt of St. 
Paul's Cathedral, London, that splendid temple erected to the faith of 
Christianity, lie the remains of its great architect, Christopher Wren. 
They repose beneath the floor in which is sunken a simple plate, upon 
which is inscribed the name "Christopher Wren," and the Latin inscrip- 
tion "si monumentum requiris, circumspice" ; if you seek his monument, 
look about you. So I say, we may erect monuments, the graven metal 
or carved marble, to the heroes of the past, not for them, for they 
need them not. but for us that this reminder of their heroic deeds may 
lead us to emulate their examples and push on to loftier heights. No, 
I would say of George Croghan and the heroes of 1776 and 1812, if you 
should ask for their monument, look about you and contemplate the mag- 
nificent republic of which they laid the corner-stone, a republic whose 
people present the highest of type character and civilization and whose 
principles of liberty and humanity are being borne to all the inhabitants 
of the earth and the islands of the sea. Jam.es A. Garfield, than whom 
there was no more exalted example of the American citizen, soldier, 
statesman, scholar and orator, a martyred President from Ohio, at the 
close of one of his brilliant addresses used these words: "The history 
of the worlds is a divine poem ; the history of every nation is a canto in 
that poem; and the life of every man is a word in that poem. The 
harmony of that poem lias ever been resounding through the ages and 
though its melody has been marred by the roaring of cannon and the 
groans of dying men, yet to the Christian philosopher, to you and me, 
that poem breathes a prophecy of more happy and halcyon days to 
come." What a word was the life of George Croghan in that poem of 
universal history— a word that was a clarion note of bravery, heroism 
and patriotism, a note that shall ever resound clear and distinct in the 
harmony of American history. 



The Cro''Jiati Celebration. 



35. 



HISTORICAL address: 



nV BASH. MEEK, ESQ., FREMONT, OHPO. 

We have met today on this ground, famous in history, because of 
the victorious defence of Fort Stephenson, then standing on this spot, 
by Major George Croghan, and the band of he- 
roes under his command, ninety-three years 
ago, — not only to commemorate that brilHant 
acliievement, but also to further consecrate and 
make sacred the spot by the re-interment of the 
remains of its gallant defender. 

To Col. Wel)b C. Hayes great praise is due, 
for his patriotic, persistent and successful quest 
for the grave of the hero, and in procuring evi- 
dence conclusive of the identity of the body, 
which, with the casket enclosing the same he- 
caused to be brought here for interment. His 
efforts have been loyally seconded by the ladies 
of the George Croghan Chapter, D. A. R., of this 
I city, who recently dedicated a commemorative 

tablet near the spot from which the British cannon bombarded the fort. 
The tablet reads as follows : 




UASIL MEEK. 



Near this spot 

British cannon from Commodore Barclay's fleet bombarded 

Major Croghan in Fort Stephenson August 1, and 2, 1813. 

General Proctor attempted to capture the fort by assault with 

his Wellington veterans, assisted by Indians under Tecumseh. 

Major Croghan with only 160 men and one cannon 

"Old Betsy, "repulsed the assault. 

The British retreated to their ships with many killed and wounded, 

but leaving Lt. Col. Short, Lieut. Gordon 

and 25 soldiers of the 41st regiment dead in the ditch. 

Commodore Barclay was wounded and with his entire fleet including 

the cannon used against Fort Stephenson was captured by 

Commodore Perry at the battle of Lake Erie, Sept. 10, 1813. 

General Proctor, with his British regulars, was defeated and 

Tecumseh with many of his Indians, was killed by 

General Harrison at the battle of the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813. 

Major Croghan was awarded a gold medal and each 

of his ofiicers a sword by the congress of the United States 

for gallantry in the defense of Fort Stephenson. 

Erected by the George Croghan Chapter, D. A. R. 



It is not for me, in this paper, to 'enter into any detailed account 
of the engagement, or any description of the fort ; nor to enter into 
details of the causes or military movements that led up to the attack, 



36 



Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 



as these have been assigned to others. Reference, however, is made to 
the accompanying cut of the plan of the fort and its environs. 

"In long years past, on the banks of this river 

Whose current so peaceful, flows silently down. 

Roamed the race of the red man, with bow and with quiver. 
Where stands fair Fremont, our beautiful town." 

Here centuries ago, according to tradition, there were two fortified 
neutral towns. One on the east and one on the west bank of the river, 
remains of which, in the shape of earthworks were visible within the 
remembrance of inhabitants now living. 







•■'•?i 



■■p-r^ 



^penadiers 




l-OKT S.VNDl'SKY AND E.W'IKONS. 

Reference to the Environs. — a — British gunboats at their place 
of landing. 6 — Cannon, a six-pounder. c — Mortar, c/ — Batteries, 
f. — Graves of Lieut. Col. Short and Lieut. Gordon, who fell in the 
ditch. 7 — Road to Upper Sandusky. « — Advance of the enemy to the 
fatal ditch, i — Head of navigation. 



Major B. F. Stickney, for many years Indian agent in this locality 
and familiar with its history and traditions, in a lecture in Toledo in 
1845, speaking of these towns, said: "The Wyandots have given me 
this account of them. At a period of two and a half centuries ago 
all the Indians west of this point were at war with those east. Two 
walled towns were built near each other, inhabited by those of Wyandot 
oriein Tliev assmncd a neutral character. All of the west might enter 



The Cros:han Celebration. 



37 



the western city and all of the east the eastern. The inhabitants of one 
city might inform those of the other that war parties were there ; but who 
'they were or whence they came or anything more must not be mentioned." 
Gen. Lewis Cass, in an address in 1829 before the Historical Society 
of Michigan, alluding to these neutral towns, said: "During the long and 
disastrous contest which preceded and followed the arrival of the Euro- 
peans, in which the Iroquois contended for victory, and their enemies 
for existence, this little band (Wyandots) preserved the integrity of 
their tribe and the sacred character of peacemakers. All who met 
upon their threshold met as friends. This neutral nation was still in 
existence when the French Missionaries reached the upper lakes two 
centuries ago. The details of their history and of their character and 
privileges are meager and unsatisfactory, and this is the more to be 
regretted as such a sanctuary among the barbarous tribes is not only a 




FORT SANDUSKY. 

References to the Fort. — Line 1 — Pickets. Line 2 — Embank- 
ment from the ditch to and against the picket. Line 3. Dry ditch, nine 
feet wide by six deep. Line 4 — Outward embankment or glacis. A — 
Blockhouse first attacked by cannon, b. B — Bastion from which the 
ditch was raked by Croghan's artillery. C — Guard blockhouse, in the 
lower left corner. D — Hospital during the attack. EEE — Military 
store-houses. F — Commissan,''s store-house. G — Magazine. H — 
Fort gate. KKK — Wicker gates. L- — Partition gate. 



singular institution but altogether at variance with that reckless spirit 
of cruelty with which their wars are usually prosecuted." Internal 
feuds finally arose, as the tradition goes, and the villages were destroyed. 
Here then the Indians for centuries had their homes and swarmed 
along the banks and in the forests and plains of the valley of their beloved 
river. Large game abounded on every hand, the river teemed with fish. 



88 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

and the marshes were aHve with wild fowl. To them it was an ideal 
abode and typical of their heaven, the happy hunting ground. They were 
mostly of the Wyandot tribe, whose ancestors' home was once on the 
north side of the river St. Lawrence, and who, becoming involved in a 
war with the Senecas, living on the opposite side, which threatened their 
extermination, concluded to leave their country. They settled first in the 
vicinity of Greenbay; the Senecas followed them and the war was 
renewed with varying fortunes, until finally it came to an end with the 
Wyandots victors, but so badly worsted as to be unable to take much 
advantage of their victory, and they finally settled here. They were 
more civilized than any of the other tribes inhabiting this region, among 
whom were Delawares, Shawanees and Ottawas. 

The origin of the name of the river has been variously explained. 
A map, published in Amsterdam in 17-20 founded on a great variety of 
Memoirs of Louisiana, represents within the present limits of Erie 
county a water called Lac San douske. There is also a map published by 
Henry Popple. London in 1733, where the bay is called "Lake Sandoski." 
A very probable account of the origin of the name is the tradition of 
aged Wyandot warriors given to Gen. Harrison in the friendly chat of 
the Wigw^am from which it appeared that their conquering tribes in 
their conflict with the Senecas, centuries ago, having landed at Maumee, 
followed the lake shore toward the east, passing and giving names to 
bays, creeks and rivers until on coming to Cold creek, where it enters 
the bay, they were so charmed with the springs of clear, cold water in 
the vicinity that they pitched their tents and engaged in hunting and 
fishing, and by them the bay and river was called Sandusky. Meaning 
in their language "At the Cold Water." Buttcrfield gives a conversation 
•of John M. James, with William Walker, principal chief of the Wyandots 
at Upper Sandusky, at Columbus, 1835. He said the meaning of the 
word was "at the cold water,'" and should be pronounced San-doos-tee. 
The Lower San-doos-tee (cold water) and Upper San-doos-tee being the 
•descriptive Wyandot Indian names known as far back as our knowledge 
of this tribe extends. 

Here at Lower Sandusky was one of the most important Wyandot 
villages, named Junque-indundeh, which in the Wyandot language, noted 
for its descriptive character, signifies "at the place of the hanging haze 
or mist (smoke)," a name applicable and of a poetic tinge when its site 
with the surrounding forests, prairies and marshes, and the burning 
leaves and grass are considered. Through this village passed one of 
the main Indian trails from Detroit to the Ohio River country through 
the Ohio wilderness. There was good navigation from here to Detroit 
and the upper lakes, and a good, waterway for their canoes, with but a 
short portage, between the Sandusky river and the Scioto, to the Ohio 
river. 

For a period of nearly sixty years before the battle of Fort Stephen- 



TJie Croghan Celebration. 39 

son this spot was on tlic route pursued by military expeditions of France, 
Great Britain and our forefathers, and by the war parties of the savage 
red man from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. The iirst mihtary ex- 
pedition of white men to this place of which we have a record at the pres- 
ent time, was that of the French sent out by DeLongueuil, commandant at 
Detroit, in 1748, during the conspiracy of Nicolas, the Wyandot chief 
who resided at Sandoskct, on the north side of the bay of that name, 
and who had permitted English traders from Pennsylvania to erect 
a. large blockhouse ' at his principal town on the north side of Lake 
Sandoski, in 1745, named Fort Sandusky. After* the failure of his con- 
spiracy, Nicolas resolved to abandon his towns on Sandusky Bay, and 
on April 7, 1748, destroyed his villages and forts and with his warriors 
and their families moved to the Illinois country. 

The French sent another expedition in 1749 under Captain de 
Celeron who after passing up the Sandusky river conducted an expe- 
dition to the Ohio country, burying engraved leaden plates along the 
Ohio river. The first British expedition up the Sandusky was after 
the close of the old French War in 1760, when Robert Rogers, a native 
•of New Hampshire, was directed to take possession of the western forts. 
He left Montreal on the IHth of September, 1760, with two hundred Ran- 
gers — proceeding west he visited Sandusky — after securing the fort at 
Detroit returned by land via Sandusky and Tuscarawas Trail to Fort 
Pitt, stopping at the Lower Rapids of the Sandusky, probably on this 
very knoll. The succeeding expedition, that of Colonel Bradstreet and 
Israel Putnam in 1764, was outlined in the address of Hon. S. D. Dodge. 

In May, 1778, the Renegades Alexander McKee, Matthew Elliott 
and Simon Girty passed through Lower Sandusky to join the notorious 
Lieutenant-Governor Henry Hamilton at Detroit, and lead the savages 
in their attack on the settlers. James Girty came from Fort Pitt a few 
weeks later to join them. Later in the year 1778 Daniel Boone and 
Simon Kenton, then held captive by the Indians, at different times passed 
through Lower Sandusky en route to Detroit. Strange to say Simon 
Girty saved Simon Kenton's life and sent him to Detroit after he had 
heen condemned to be burned and tortured. 

The next military expedition of which we have knowledge which 
stopped at or passed through this place was the British contingent which 
served with the Indians in repelling Crawford's expedition which cul- 
minated m the terrible scene of Crawford's exfecution by burning at 
the stake. This followed about two months after the passage of the 
Moravians through this place on their removal to Detroit. 

The pathetic story of the Moravian Indians whose villages were 
originally planted on the banks of the Tuscarawas river, in 1772, had a sad 
ending some ten years later in the brutal massacre which forms one 
of the darkest pages of Revolutionary times. The Moravian missio- 
■naries and Christian Indians seemed to excite the special enmity of the 



40 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

savages both white and red, British and American. The renegades, Elliott, 
Girty and McKee, finally persuaded the British Commandant at Detroit 
to order their removal, and sent the bloody Wyandot Indians under 
their war chiefs Kuhn of Lower Sandusky, and Snip of Upper Sandusky, 
accompanied by the famous Delaware chief Captain Pipe of Upper San- 
dusky, to transfer them to the Sandusky villages or to the vicinity of 
Detroit. This was carried out in their usual ruthless manner. While 
the Indian converts remained at Upper Sandusky, Dc Peyster, the Com- 
mandant of Detroit, through the machinations of bimon Girty, ordered 
the missionaries brougHt before him. Rev. John Heckewelder, one of 
the missionaries, afterward wrote, in his "History of the Mission": "On 
the morning of the 13th of March, 1782, a Frenchman named Francis 
Levallie, from Lower Sandusky, gave us notice that Girty who was to 
have taken us to Detroit, having gone with a party of Wyandots to war 
against the Americans on the Ohio, had appointed him to take his place 
in taking us to Detroit, and that on the next day after tomorrow (the 
loth) he would be here again to set out with us. A little conversation 
with this man satisfied us that we had fallen into better hands. He 
told us : 'Girty had ordered him to drive us before him to Detroit, the 
same as if we were cattle, and never make a halt for the purpose of 
the women giving suck to their children. That he should take us 
around the head of the lake (Erie) and make us foot every step of 
the way.' He, however would not do this, but would take us to Lower 
Sandusky, and from that place send a runner with a letter to the Com- 
mandant at Detroit, representing our situation and taking further orders 
from him respecting us." 

Notwithstanding Girty's hard order, the kind-hearted Frenchman 
conducted the missionaries with every regard for their comfort and 
safety, and boats were sent to take them from Lower Sandusky to Detroit. 
A short time after reaching Lower Sandusky they received word that the 
almost equally brutal white borderers on the American side, led by the 
notorious Col. Williamson, had marched from Fort Pitt and cruelly 
slaughtered some ninety or more Christian Indians who still remained 
at the Moravian villages on the Tuscarawas. The missionary band at 
Lower Sandusky consisted of the senior missionary David Zeisberger, 
and his wife ; John Heckewelder, wife and child ; Senseman, wife and 
babe but a few weeks old ; Youngman and wife ; and Edwards and 
Michael Young, unmarried. The two latter were, while in Lower San- 
dusky, lodged in the house of Mr. Robbins. The other four missionaries 
with their families were guests of Mr. Arundel. Robbins and Arundel 
were F-nglish traders at this place. 

Heckewelder in his History of Indian Nations describes the ordeal 
of running the gauntlet as follows : 

"In the month of April, 1782, when I was myself a prisoner at 
Lower Sandusky, waiting for an opportunity to proceed with a trader to 



Tlic Croghaii Celebration. 41 

Detroit, — three American ])risoners were brought in by fourteen war- 
riors from the garrison of Fort Mcintosh. As soon as they had crossed 
the Sandusky river to which the village lay adjacent, they were told 
by the captain of the party to run as hard as they could to a painted 
post which was shown to them. The youngest of the three without a 
moment's hesitation immediately started for it, and reached it fortu- 
nately without receiving a single blow ; the second hesitated for a moment, 
but recollecting himself, he also ran as fast as he could and likewise 
reached the post unhurt. The third, frightened at seeing so many men, 
women and children with weapons in their hands ready to strike him, 
kept begging the captain to spare him, saying that he was a mason and 
would build him a fine large stone house or do any work for him that 
he would please. ,^ 

"Run for your life," cried the chief to him, "and don't talk now of 
building houses !" But the poor fellow still insisted, begging and praying 
to the captain, who at last finding his exhortations vain and fearing the 
consequences turned his back upon him and would not hear him any 
longer. Our mason now began to run, but received many a hard blow, 
one of which nearly brought him to the ground, which, if he had fallen 
would have decided his fate. He, however, reached the goal, and not 
without being sadly bruised, and he was beside bitterly reproached and 
scoffed at all round as a vile coward, while the others were hailed as 
brave 'men and received tokens of universal approbation." 

"In the year 1782," says Heckewelder, "the war chief of the Wyandot 
tribe of Indians of Lower Sandusky sent a young white man whom he 
had taken as prisoner as a present to another chief who was called the 
Half King of Upper Sandusky, for the purpose of being adopted into 
his family in the place of one of his sons who had been killed the pre- 
ceding year. The prisoner arrived and was presented to the Half King's 
wife, but she refused to receive him; which according to the Indian rule 
was in fact a sentence of death. The young man was therefore taken 
away for the purpose of being tortured and burnt on the pile. While 
the dreadful preparations were making and the unhappy victim was 
already tied to the stake, two English traders, moved by feelings of pity 
and humanity, resolved to unite their exertions to endeavor to save 
the prisoner's life by offering a ransom to the war chief; which how- 
ever he refused, saying it w-as an established rule among them to sacri- 
fice a prisoner when refused adoption ; and besides the numerous war 
captains were on the spot to see the sentence carried into execution. 
The two generous Englishmen, were, however, not discouraged, and 
determined to try another effort. They appealed to the well-known high- 
minded pride of an Indian. 'But.' said they, 'among all these chiefs 
whom you have mentioned there is none who equals you in greatness; 
you are considered not only as the greatest and bravest, but as the 
best man in the nation.' 'Do vou rcallv believe what vou say?' said 



42 



Oliio .Irch. and Hist. Socicfy Publications. 



the Indian looking thoni full in the face. "Indeed we do." Then without 
speaking another word, he blackened himself, and talcing his knife and 
his tomahawk in his hand, made his way through the crowd to the un- 
happy victim, crying out with a loud voice, 'what have you to do with 
my prisoner?' and at once cutting tiie cords with which he was tied, 
took him to his house, which was near that of Mr. Arundel, whence he 
was secured and carried off by safe hands to Detroit, where the Com- 
mandant sent him by water to Niagara, where he was soon after liberated; 
the Indians who witnessed this act, said it was truly heroic; they were 
so confounded by the unexpected conduct of this chief and by his 
manly and resolute appearance, tliat tiiey had nut time to reflect upon 
what they should do. and before their astonisinnent was well over, the 
prisoner was out of their reach." 




REDOUBT OF THE FORT. 



Another descri])tion of the same ordeal is related by Jeremiali Arm- 
strong, who with an older brother and sister, was captured by the 
Indians in 1794 opposite Blennerhassctt's Island and brought to this 
place. He says : "On arriving at Lower Sandusky, before entering the 
town, they halted and formed a procession for Cox (a fellow prisoner), 
my sister and myself to run the gauntlet. They pointed to the home of 
their chief, Old Crane, (Tarhe), about a hundred yards distant, signifying 
that we should run into it. Wc did 'so and were received very kindly by 
the old chief; he was a very mild man. beloved by all." Tarhe when 
critically analyzed means "at liiin," J'tlie tree." or "(7/ tlic tree." the tree 
personified. Crane was a nickname given him by tlie I'rench on account 



Tlic Crughaii Celebration. 43 

of his height and slender form. Tarhc's wife was a white woman, a 
capti\e named Sally Frost, who had heen adopted hy the W'yandots. 

LOWER SANDUSICY. 

The two mile square tract which still comprises the corporate limits 
of the city of Fremont, was ceded to the government of the United States 
by the Indians at the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, January -21, 1785, renewed 
at Fort Harmar, January 9, 1789, and reaffirmed at the treaty of Green- 
ville, August 3, 1795; and has constituted a distinct military or civil 
jurisdiction now for 121 years. Gen. George Rogers Clark, the uncle 
of our Major George Croghan, was one of the Commissioners of the 
United States who made the treaty with the Indians at Fort Mcintosh, 
by which the spot so gallantly defended by his nephew, twenty-eight years 
after, was first ceded to the government. 

While this region was within the jurisdiction of Delaware county 
(1809-15) the term or name Lower Sandusky was sometimes understood 
to apply to all that region within the Sandusky river valley north of 
an undefined line dividing the upper from the lower Sandusky country. 
On April 29, 1811, as recorded in journal 1, page 35, the board of county 
commissioners of Delaware county passed the following resolution : 

"Resolved by the board of commissioners of Delaware county in 
conformity to a petition from the white inhabitants of Sandusky and by 
the verbal request of some of the inhabitants of Radnor township, that 
all that part of country commonly known and called by the name of 
Upper and Lower Sanduskys shall be and now is attached to Radnor 
township enjoying township privileges so far as is agreeable to law." 

This is the first record concerning local civil government here, that 
I have been able to find. 

It is quite reasonable to conclude that more than the two-mile square 
tract is meant by "All that part of country commonly known and called 
by the name of Lower Sandusky." In further support of this conclusion 
may be mentioned a criminal prosecution in the common pleas court of 
Huron county at the May term, 1819, while this territory was within 
that jurisdiction. — Law Record, Vol. 1, page 217. 

The case referred to was the State of Ohio vs. Ne-go-sheek, Ne- 
gon-e-ba and Ne-gossum, three Ottawa Indians, indicted for the murder 
of John Wood and George Bishop, white men, at a hunter's and trap- 
per's camp on the Portage river, at a point about twelve miles from its 
mouth, near what is now Oak Harbor in Ottawa county, April 21, 1819. 
The indictment was drawai and the prosecution conducted by Ebenezer 
Lane, assisted by Peter Hitchcock, both very able lawyers and not likely 
to be mistaken in the averments as to the venue or place where the 
crime was committed, which, though known to have been several miles 
distant from the two-mile square tract, was nevertheless charged in the 
indictment as committed "At the county of Huron in Lower Sandusky." 



44 Ohio .Irch. ami Hist. Society I'lihlicatioiis. 

A very interesting account of this case may be found in the Fire- 
land Pioneer, June 1865, page 43. Ne-gossum was discharged without 
trial. The other two were convicted and sentenced to be hung, which 
sentence was executed at Norwalk, July 1, 1819. Lane and Hitchcock both 
subsequently became Judges of the Supreme Court of the State. 

On August 1, 1815, while the region known as Lower Sandusky was 
within the civil jurisdiction of Huron County, having been transferred 
from Delaware County to Huron, January 31, 1815, the Township of 
Lower Sandusky was formed by the commissioners of that county, and 
provision made for the first election of township officers for the town- 
ship, the same to be held August 15, 1815, at the house of Israel Har- 
rington. 

The order, among other things, provided: "Said township to 
comprise all that part of Huron County west of the 24th range of Con- 
necticut Reserve," which meant then all that region of country between 
the west line of Huron and the east lines of Hancock, Wood and Lucas 
Counties, lying south of Lake Erie and extending to the south line of 
Seneca County. 

At this election Israel Harrington, Randall Jerome and Jeremiah 
Everett (father of Homer Everett) were elected township trustees; 
Isaac Lee, clerk ; Morris A. Newman and William Ford, overseers of 
the poor, and Charles B. Fitch and Henry Dubrow, appraisers. 

This immense township thus remained until May 18, 1819, when by 
action of the county commissioners of Huron County another township 
was formed by detaching from the township of Lower Sandusky all that 
part of the same east of the Sandusky river. To the new township the 
name of Croghan was given. 

FORT STEPHENSON PARK AND BIRCHARD LIBRARY. 

Fort Stephenson Park, the site of the fort, covers a little more than 
two acres of ground, and is a part of a 57 acre tract, numbered 9, of 
the subdivision of the two-mile square reservation made in 1817, and 
about that time platted into inlots and is located near the center of 
the historic two-mile square tract. The first purchaser from the gov- 
ernment was Cyrus Hulburd, whose deed is dated March 11, 1824. 
From him it passed through successive grantees till the title to the three- 
fourths part fronting Croghan street was acquired by Lewis Leppelman, 
the southwest one-eighth by Dr W. V. B. Ames, and the southeast 
one-eighth by Lucinda Claghorn. The city of Fremont purchased this 
property in 1873, the Birchard Library Association, having contributed 
$9,000 toward the purchase of the property, and being the equitable owner 
of one-third thereof. On March 29, 1878, the Birchard Library Associa- 
tion became the owner of the legal title to the undivided one-third of 
this ground by deed of conveyance from the City council of Fremont 
pursuant to an ordinance duly passed February '18, 1878. This deed 



The Crogliaii Celebration. 46 

containctl the conditions proscribed in the ordinance which are as fol- 
lows: "That said Birchard Library Association arc to have the right to 
erect, maintain and occupy a building for the Birchard Library on Lots 
number two hundred and twenty-one (221) and two hundred and forty 
(240), and that said City have the right to erect, maintain and occupy a 
building on said premises for a City Hall, where the same is now be- 
ing erected on the corner of Croghan and Arch streets, and that no other 
building, fence or structure of any kind shall hereafter be erected or 
put upon any part of said Lots, nor shall the same ever be used for any 
purpose other than as a Public Park or any part thereof sold or con- 
veyed without the consent of both the said City Council and the said 
Birchard Library Association. The control and supervision of said Park 
shall be vested in the City Council and said Birchard Library Associa- 
tion jointly, but said City Council shall have the exclusive use and con- 
trol of the building now on said Lots." 

The Birchard Library Association, which was largely instrumental in 
preserving old Fort Stephenson for the public, was founded in 1873 by 
Sardis Birchard, who named a Board of Trustees of which his nephew 
Rutherford B. Hayes was the president, and arranged to place with such 
Board property and securities to the value of $50,000. Mr. Birchard died 
January 21, 1874, before the property intended to be given was legally 
vested in this Board of Trustees, and his last will, dated August 21, 1872, 
contained no provision for the Library. 

His nephew and residuary legatee, Rutherford B. Hayes, however, 
on February 14, 1874, but fifteen days subsequent to the probating of Mr. 
Birchard's will, himself made a will in his own handwriting, witnessed 
by J. W. Wilson and A. E. Rice, which will was for the sole purpose of 
correcting this omission and securing for the Library the endowment in- 
tended by Mr. Birchard. Item 2 of General Hayes's will was as follows : 

"To carry out the intention of my uncle for the benefit of the people 
of Fremont and vicinity, I give and bequeath to the Birchard Library all 
my right, title and interest to the following property, viz." Then fol- 
lowed the description of parcels of real estate in Toledo, out of which 
was to be realized an aggregate of $40,000 for the Library. Subse- 
quently this property was conveyed by deed and later it was sold. It 
was undoubtedly the expectation and intention of Mr. Birchard to com- 
plete his gift while living; hence the absence of any provision for it in 
his will, although his cash bequests to educational and charitable institu- 
tions and relatives and friends other than his residuary legatees, aggre- 
gated some $40,000. 

General Hayes, in making this will at the time he did, evidently in- 
tended that even in the case of his own death, the people of Fremont 
and vicinity should receive the unexecuted gift of Mr. Birchard; so that 
the people are indebted both to the benevolence of Sardis Birchard and to 
the generosity of Rutherford B. Hayes for Birchard Library. 



46 Ohiu .hell, and Jlist. Soiict\ I'ublications. 

It is an interesting fact that the existence of the above mentioned 
will was only learned during the present year by the finding of a photo- 
graphic copy of it, which has since been placed in Birchard Library. 

The name Fort Stephenson first appears in the military records as 
follows : 

"FoKT Stephenson, May 22, 1813. 
May it please your Excellency : 

Sir : Agreeably to your orders I have forwarded all the articles 
specified therein. * * * Considerable manual labor has been done on 
the garrison since you left this place and improvements are daily making. 
* * * One person has been buried since you left this place. He came 
from Fort Meigs with a part of the baggage of Major Tod. * * * " 

R. E. Post, Adjutant. 

The Major Tod mentioned became the president judge of the com- 
mon pleas court of the district to which Sandusky county was attached 
when organized and presided at the first term of that court held in the 
county, May 8, 1820, at Croghansville. 

At the time of the defense of Fort Stephenson there were but very 
few white inhabitants in Lower Sandusky, as is evidenced by the follow- 
ing petition to Governor Meigs, dated December 21, 1813 : 
"May it please your Excellency : — 

"The undersigned inhabitants and settlers on the plains of Lower 
Sandusky on the reservation beg leave to humbly represent their present 
situation." 

"In the first instance B. F. Stickney, Indian Agent has denied us 
the right or privilege of settling on these grounds * * * and has 
actually instructed Gen. Gano, our present Commandant, to dispossess us 
of our present inheritance. Many of us * * * have been severe suff- 
erers since the commencement of the present war. * * * We do not, 
neither can we attempt to claim any legal right to the ground or spot 
of earth on which we have each individually settled; but the improve- 
ments which we have made and the buildings which wc have erected we 
trust will nut be taken from us. * * * Permission to build has been 
granted by Gen. Gano to those who have erected cabins since his arrival." 

Signed by Morris A. Newman. Israel Harrington, George Bean, 
Geo. Ermatington, R. E. Post, Asa Stoddard, R. Loomis, Jesse Skinner, 
William Leach, Walter Brabrook, Louis Moshello, Wm. Hamilton, Lewis 
Geaneau, Patrick Cress. 

Whether this petition was granted or not there is no record to 
show, but il is probable that it was. But few of the names of the four- 
teen signers appear in the subsequent history of the county affairs. 
Israel Harrington and Morris A. Newman, however, became Associate 
Judges of the Common Pleas Court, and Judge Newman was also County 
Commissioner. It was at his tavern on the northeast corner of Ohio 



The Cro^han Celebration. 47' 

Avemio and Pine Street, in Crogliansville, tliat the fu-sl term of the 
common pleas conn in tlie county was held, and Judge Harrington was 
one of the associate judges presiding at that term. 

B.^LL's 13ATTLE. 

On July 30, 1813, when General Harrison sent Colonel Wells to 
relieve Major Croghan from command at Fort Stephenson, he was 
escorted from Fort Seneca by Colonel Ball's squadron, consisting of about 
100 horse. On the way down they fell in with a body of Indians and 
fought what has since been called Ball's Battle. Israel Harrington, a 
resident of Lower Sandusky at the time of the battle and one of the 
first associate judges of Sandusky county, said that "three days after 
he passed the ground and counted thereon thirteen dead Indians awfully 
cut and mangled by the horsemen. None of the squadron were killed 
and but one slightly wounded." The scene of this battle is about one 
and a half miles southwest of Fremont on the west bank of the river, 
near what is now the residence of Birchard Havens. There was an 
oak tree on the site of the action within the memory of persons still 
living, with seventeen hacks in it to indicate the number of Indians killed ; 
but this tree has unfortunately disappeared as have many other monu- 
ments of those stirring times. Howe says: "The squadron were moving 
toward the fort when they were suddenly fired upon by the Indians from 
the west side of the road, whereupon Colonel Ball ordered a charge 
and he and suite and the right flank being in advance first came into- 
action. The colonel struck the first blow. He dashed in between two 
savages and cut down the one on the right; the other being slightly in 
the rear, made a blow- with a tomahawk at his back, when, by a sudden 
spring of his horse, it fell short afid was buried deep in the cantel and 
pad of his saddle. Before the savage could repeat the blow he was shot 
by Corporal Ryan. Lieut. Hedges (now Gen. Hedges of Mansfield) fol- 
lowing in the rear, mounted on a small horse pursued a big Indian and 
just as he had come up to him his stirrup broke, and he fell headfirst 
off his horse, knocking the Indian down. Both sprang to their feet, when 
Hedges struck the Indian across his head, and as he was falling buried 
his sword up to its hilt in his body. At this time Captain Hopkins was 
seen on the left side in pursuit of a powerful savage, when the latter 
turned and made a blow at the captain with a tomahawk, at which the 
horse sprang to one side. Cornet Hayes then came up, and the Indian 
struck at him, his horse in like manner evading the blow. Serj. Ander- 
son now arriving, the Indian was soon dispatched. By this time the 
skirmish was over, the Indians who yirere only about 20 in number being 
nearly all cut down; and orders were given to retreat to the main 
squadron. Col. Ball dressed his men ready for a charge, should the 
Indians appear in force, and moved down without further molestation 
to the fort, where they arrived about 4 P. M.'" 



48 Ohio Arch, unci JJist. Society Publications. 

Among Colonel Ball's troopers was a private, James Webb, the 
father of Lucy Webb Hayes, whose old Hint-lock rifle and hunting horn 
are among the treasures of Spiegel Grove. 

In the plan of the environs of the Fort, il will be noted that the 
spot where the British officers, Lieut. Colonel Shortt and Lieut. Gordon 
were buried, is marked. The new High School building now covers this 
spot, and in 1891, while excavating for its foundation portions of the 
graves were uncovered and metallic buttons with the number of the 
regiment, 41, stamped on them were fouiul. whicli have been placed in 
Birchard Library by Mr. H. S. Dorr, their owner. Mr. Dorr, soon after 
finding these buttons showed them to President Hayes who stated that 
in reading an autobiography of a Scotch Bishop Gordon, he found the 
following : "The great sorrow of my life was the loss of a son in an 
unimportant battle in an obscure place in North America — called Fort 
Sandusky." 

From an English work, the "Dictionary of National Biography" the 
following facts are gathered. The father of Lieut. Gordon was James 
Bently Gordon (1750-1819) of Londonderry, Ireland, who graduated from 
Trinity College, Dublin, in 1773 took Holy Orders and subsequently was 
presented with the living, first of Cannaway on Cork and finally that of 
Killegney in Wexford, both of which he retained till his death, in April, 
1819. He was a zealous student of history and geography and a volum- 
inous writer of books on such subjects, among which were "Terraquea 
or a New System of Geography and Modern History," "A History of the 
Rebellion in Ireland in 1798," "'A History of the British Islands" and 
"An Historical and Geographical Memoir of the North American Con- 
tinent." 

He married in 1779 a daughter (3f Richard Bookey of Wicklow, by 
whom he had several children. His eldest son, James George Gordon, 
entered the army and was killed at Fort Sandusky in August, 1813. 

DEFENDERS OF FORT STEPHENSON. 

The public is greatly indebted to Col. Webb C. Hayes for his un- 
tiring and partially successful efforts in procuring the names, appearing 
below, of the officers and soldiers in the garrison at Fort Stephenson at 
the time of its heroic defence. 

The list is not complete, containing only seventy-eight names out of 
the 160 in the fort at the time. The war records at Washington do not 
show the names of the volunteers, who were detached and assigned to 
this service ; hence it was impossible for him to obtain their names. 

The following are the names furnished by Col. Hayes: 

Major George Croghan, Seventeenth U. S. Inf., commanding. 

Captain James Hunter. 

First lieutenant, Benjamin Johnson; second lieutenant, Cyrus A. 



The Croghan Celebration. 49 

Baylor; ensign. Edmund Sliipp ; l-'.nsign, Joscpli Duncan, all of the 
Seventeenth U. S. Infantry. 

First Lieutenant, Joseph Anthony, Twenty-fourth U. S. Infantry. 

Second Lieutenant, John Meek, Seventh U. S. Infantry. 

Petersburg Volunteers. 

Pittsburg Blues. 

Greensburg Riflemen. 

Captain Hunter's company, Capt. James Hunter commanding. Ser- 
geants, Wayne Case, James Huston, Obadiah Norton. Corporals, Matthew 
Burns, William Ewing, John Maxwell. 

Privates: Pleasant Bailey, Samuel Brown, Elisha Condiff, Thomas 
Crickman, Ambrose Dean, Leonard George, Nathaniel Gill, John Harley, 
Jonathan Hartley, William McDonald, Joseph McKey, Frederick Metts, 
Rice ^lillender, John Alumman, Samuel Pearsall, Daniel Perry, William 
Ralph. John Rankin, Elisha Rathbun, Aaron Ray, Robert Row, John 
Salley, John Savage, John Smith, Thomas Striplin, William Sutherland, 
Martin Tanner. John Zett, David Perry. 

Captain Duncan's company, 17th U. S. Inf., First Lieutenant Benja- 
min Johnson commanding. Second Lieutenant Cyrus A. Baylor. Ser- 
geants. Henry Lawell ; Thomas McCaul, John M. Stotts, Notley Williams. 

Privates : Henry L. Bethers, Cornelius S. Bevins, Joseph Blamer, 
Jonathan C. Bowling, Nicholas Bryant, Robert Campbell, Samuel Camp- 
bell, Joseph Klinkenbeard, Joseph Childers, Ambrose Dine, Jacob Downs, 
James Harris, James Heartley, William Johnson, Elisha Jones, Thomas 
Linchard. William McClelland, Joseph McKee, John Martin, Ezekiel 
Mitchell. William Rogers, David Sudderfield, Thomas Taylor, John 
Williams. 

Detachment Twenty-fourth U. S. Infantry. First Lieutenant Joseph 
Anthony commanding. 

Privates : William Gaines, John Foster, Jones, Samuel 

Riggs, Samuel Thurman. 

Greensburg Riflemen. Sergeant Abraham Weaver. 

Petersburg Volunteers. Private Edmund Brown. 

Pittsburg Blues. 

CAPTAIN SAMUEL BRADY. 

During the war of the Revolution, Captain Samuel Brady was sent 
here by direction of Washington to learn if possible the strength of the 
Indians in this quarter. He approached the village under cover of night 
and fording the river secreted himself on the Island just below the falls. 
When morning dawned a fog rested over the valley which completely 
cut of¥ from view the shore from either side. About 11 o'clock a bright 
sun quickly dispelled the mist and the celebrated borderer became the 
witness from his conealment of a series of interesting horse races by 
the Indians during the three days he remained on the Island, from which 

Vol. XVI— 4. 



50 Ohio Arch, and Hisl. Society Publications. 

he concluded that they were not then preparing for any hostile move- 
ments, and started to return, and after a perilous tramp of several days 
reached the fort from which he had been sent out. This Island where 
Brady secreted himself was known among the early settler's as Brady's 
Island. Capt. Brady subsequently started on a scout towards the San- 
dusky villages as before and had arrived in the neighborhood, when he 
was made a prisoner and taken to one of the villages. There was great 
rejoicing at the capture of Brady, and great preparation and parade were 
made for torturing him. The Indians collected in a large body, old 
and young, on the day set for his execution. Among them was Simon 
Girty, whom he knew, they having been boys together. Girty refused 
to recognize or aid him in any way. The time for execution arrived, 
the fires were lighted, the circle around him was drawing closer and he 
began sensibly to feel the effects of the fire. The withes which confined 
his arms and legs were getting loose and he soon found he could free 
himself. A fine looking squaw of one of the chiefs ventured a little too 
near for her own safety and entirely within his reach. By one powerful 
exertion he cleared himself from everything by which he was confined, 
caught the squaw by the head and shoulders, and threw her on top of the 
burning pile, and in the confusion that followed made his escape. The 
Indians pursued, but he outdistanced them, the crowning feat being his 
celebrated leap across the Cuyahoga river at the present site of Kent, 
known as Brady's Leap. , 

Brady's name is perpetuated in the chief island of Sandusky river,, 
within the limits of the city of Fremont ; his exploits are typical of the 
emergencies of that early frontier life and of the spirit in which they 
were everywhere met. , 

SANDUSKY COUNTY. 

Gen. Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, or- 
ganized Hamilton County, February 11, 1792, with Cincinnati as the 
county seat, and the present Sandusky County forming a very small 
portion of it. Subsequently Wayne County was organized, August 15, 
1796, with Detroit as the county seat, covering a vast extent of terri- 
tory from the Cuyahoga river on the east and extending as far west 
as Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the present site of Chicago, with its northern 
boundary the Canadian boundary line, extending through the Great Lakes 
from Lake Superior to Lake Erie. This included the present county of 
Sandusky. On the organization of the state of Ohio it was included 
in Franklin county with Franklinton as the county seat, until February 17, 
1809, when it became a part of Delaware courrty with Delaware the county 
seat, and so remained until January 31, 1815. In April, 1811, Lower 
Sandusky by name was attached to Radnor township of Delaware county, 
by the county commissioners for townsKip purposes. On January 31,. 
1815, it became a part of Huron county with Avery, now Milan, as the 
county seat, until 1818, and after that date with Norwalk as the county 



The Croglnin Celebration. 51 

seat. On February 20, 1820, the state legislature organized the terri- 
tory ceded by the Indians under the treaty of September 29, 1817, into 
fourteen counties, of which Sandusky was one. Sandusky county as. 
thus organized, extended from the west line of the Western Reserve 
to the east line of Wood county, and from the north line of Seneca 
county to the lake; and included all of the present counties of San- 
dusky and Ottawa, and parts of Erie and Lucas. For the first four 
years, Sandusky and Seneca counties were joined for judicial purposes. 
Croghansville, on the east bank of the Sandusky river, was the first 
county seat, until 1822, when the town Sandusky on the west bank became 
the permanent county seat and later these two towns were joined and 
known as the town of Lower Sandusky, as mentioned below. 

The name of the county is derived from that of the river, which 
enters from the south, two miles east of the southeast corner of Ball- 
ville township, and flows northeasterly, entirely across the county, a dis- 
tance, following its meanderings, of about thirty miles, when it empties- 
into the bay which by early geographers was named Lake Sandusky. 

Originally, as is shown by a plat of a survey made by Josiah At- 
kins, Jr. (Plat Record 3, page 3), the term "Lower Sandusky" was ap- 
plied to the entire tract of "two miles square on each side of the lower 
rapids of the Sandusky River," as originally ceded by the Indians at the 
treaty of For,t Mcintosh, January 21, 1785, and contained the village of 
Croghansville. According to this plat, Croghansville extended across the 
river and included several inlots and some larger tracts on the west side, 
the 57-acre tract containing the site of the Fort being one. 

After the township of Croghan was formed in 1819, this term had 
reference to the whole tract on both sides of the Sandusky river: but 
thereafter the name "Sandusky" was applied to the west side exclu- 
sively, both as to the village and township, the village being sometimes 
called "Town of Sandusky." 

When the county was organized it contained two townships only. 
namely, Sandusky, which included the village of that name on the west 
side and all of the county west of the river: and Croghan, which in- 
cluded the village of Croghansville and all of the county east of the 
river. Subsequently, in 1827, that portion of Croghan township in which 
the village on the east side was located, was attached to Sandusky town- 
ship by the county commissioners. In 1829 the territory of both villages. 
by act of the legislature, was incorporated by the name of the "Town 
of Lower Sandusky." It was changed to Fremont at the October term, 
1849, of the common pleas court (Journal 6, page 437). 

It is a matter of regret that the name about which cluster so many 
interesting traditions and local historical associations was ever changed 
to one which, however highly honored, carries with it no suggestions of 
these traditions or local history. The change was, however, thought to 
be called for in order to prevent confusion in the matter of the postal ser- 
vice, owing to the quadruplication of names. 



52 



Ohio .irch. and Hist. Society Pitblicatioiis. 



I lie name Croghaiisvillc. for the village, was probably first suggested 
by Josiah Meigs, Commissioner of the General Land Office, in a letter 
from Washington City. April ]•_', ISlii. in which, among other words 
are these: "If it were left to me lo name the town at Lower Sandusky 
I should name it in honor of the gallant youth. Col. Croghan — and should 
say it shoyld be Croghansville. 

'J~he name is still preserved in that of the school on the hill on the 
East Side, known as Croghansville School, as well as in the street 
abutting on Fort .Stephenson. 




.!■ I' 



MdOKK. 



REAI.\RKS OF J. P. :M00RE. 

T was born in Pennsylvania in 1820 and In-ought to the Black 
Swamp in ISM. .Ml my older brothers attended the Croghan celebra- 
tion at Lower Sandusky in 1889 and I have been 
present at every celebration since that time. 

My early associations in Lower. Sandusky and 
l-'remont were with such men as Thomas L. Haw- 
kins, dramatist, poet and preacher: David Gal- 
lagher, a narrator of early history; David Deal, 
;i hotel keeper, who saw service at Fort Meigs, all 
soldiers of the war of 181-2. Also Israel Harring- 
ton . ;i neighbor in Sandusky county. James Kirk 
and a man named Figley, both of whom worked 
on the old fort before the battle of August 2, 1813, 
have visited me here in Fremont and while visiting 
tile fort and going over the ground in its vicinity 
have graphically described to me the location and 
construction of the fort and many incidents comiected with its building 
and its defense against the British and Indians. 

The late David Deal, who was a member of Col. James Stephen- 
son's regiment of Ohio militia, told me that Col. Stephenson left them 
at Fort Meigs in January, 18l:5, to go to Lower Sandusky to build the 
fort which has ever since been called Fort Stephenson. 

I had always supposed that the first fort constructed on this site 
was built by Col. Stephenson's soldiers in January, 181.'!. but Col. Hayes 
has shown me a number of official records and a copy of an order 
issued by Brig. General William Irvine dated at Fort Pitt (now Pitts- 
burg) November 11, 1782. during the Revolutionary War, to Major Craig 
as follows : "Sir. I have received intelligence through various channels 
that the British have established a post at Lower Sandusky, etc., etc., 
also a copy of the treaty by which the reservation (present corporation 
limits of Fremont), two miles square, of which Fort Stephenson is 
about the center, was established by the treaty of Fort Mcintosh as 
early as 1785 and continued in all subsequent treaties. Also an order 
from ^,,,^•<•rt^(.!■ \]c\(r< of Ohio to Captain John Campbell dated Zanes- 



The CrogJian Celebration. o3 

villc, June 11, 1812. "\'o\\ will take willi you iht; necessary tools for 
building two blockhouses at Sandusky." * * *. "You will build two 
blockhouses and piquet them so as to protect the United States trading 
house and store at the place." * * * "i expect you will meet at San- 
dusky iNlajor Butler, from Delaware with a company to assist you." 

Governor Meigs' letter shows that the fort was built in 181"_'. but 
the official record also shows that it was abandoned for a short time 
after Hull's surrender. 

The old soldier Figley, of Columbiana county, came here early in 
February, 1813, and worked on the fort until mustered out at Cleveland 
on June 1st of that year. He related to me how the pickets were drawn 
by oxen from the vicinity of Stony Prairie to the fort and points sharp- 
ened and the posts set in the ground close up one against the other. 
Many of the oxen engaged in drawing them died of starvation or were 
devoured by the wolves howling around the fort. 

The company to which James Kirk belonged came to the fort June 
1, 1813, and worked here until the arrival of the British and Indians 
the day before the battle. James Kirk himself had been detailed to carry 
dispatches to Fort Seneca the day before the battle so that he was not 
present but came down early on the morning of August 3 and helped 
bury the British dead. He distinctly heard the firing of the British can- 
non and howitzers and noticed that some discharges were louder than 
others. 

Kirk was 25 years old at that time and after his discharge opened 
a blacksmith shop in Lower Sandusky in 1818 and in 1828 went to Port 
Clinton. He said that the well in the fort was not a good one, so that 
the garrison got their water from a spring at the foot of Garrison 
street', bringing it through a small gate on the east side of the fort, 
for which gate Kirk made the hinges. 

I sent my son Theodore to visit James Kirk in 188 — and get a 
description of the fort. Kirk said "Mark oflf a square plat of ground 
containing half an acre with a block house on the northeast corner and 
one in the northwest corner, this was the original fort. In June. 1813. 
when we came here the fort was foimd to be too small. He said, "niark 
ofif another square on the west side of the old square and this you will 
see will place the northwest blockhouse in the center of the north line 
of the enlarged fort. This was the blockhouse from which "Old Betsy" 
cleared the ditch when it was filled with Col. Shortt's men. There w^as 
a sealed log house in the new- part filled with biscuit for Perry's fleet. 
This house was knocked doAvn level with the pickets by the British 
cannon balls. The northeast blockhouse w^as in the center of Croghan 
oMid .\rch streets The center blockhouse was about opposite the monu- 
ment. The northwest angle of the fort extended out about 15 feet into 
High street. There were many extra guns in the fort, as a company 
of Pennsylvania "soldiers had deposited their guns there a few days be- 



54 



Ohio ArcJi. and Hist. Society Publications. 



fore the battle on their way here from Fort Meigs. Their time being 
ont, they were on their way home to be mustered out. 

The walls of the fort were made of logs, some round, some smooth 
on one side, half of the other logs averaging about 18 inches in thick- 
ness, all set firmly in the earth, each picket crowded closely against the 
other and all about ten feet high, sharpened at the top. The walls 
enclosed about one acre of ground. After Major Croghan took com- 
mand July 15, 1813, he had a ditch dug six feet deep and nine feet 
wide around the outside, throwing about one-half of the earth against 
the foot of the pickets and graded down lo the bottom of the ditch ; 



^ 




<"*' ^wj^^B^Kf'' 










i^ltfl 






.^aiHHiHMSijHH 


X. ■-:" ■;■■'<■..> ■ ' v'T^^^Sj^^^^^^H^Kr. ' 





SPIEGEL GROVE. 



the rest of the earth was thrown (in the outer bank and the depth of 
the ditch thus increased. 

Major Croghan had large logs placed on u>v ol the wall of the 
fort, so adjusted that an inconsiderable weight woukl cause them to 
fall from their position and crush any who ini^jht hr below. 

When the British landed opposite Brady's Island they sent a flag 
of truce under Col. Elliott who was met by Ensign Shipp on the ridge 
where the parsonage of St. John's Liulieran Church (which was for- 
merly the court house), now stands. This was eloquently described to 
mc by Thomas L. Hawkins, the poet, prcaelier ruid orator. 

A ravine ran up from the river north of the fort through Justice 
street across the pike in a southwestern direction near the court house, 



The Croghan Celebration. 55 

the British brought their cannon up this ravine. They would load 
their cannon and then run them up out of the ravine and after dis- 
cliarging them, back them down again to reload out of range of the 
guns of the fort. The next ravine south of this ran up Croghan street, 
turning to the southwest at High street, thence northwest through the 
northwest corner of the Presbyterian church lot. This ravine formed 
tiic north boundary of the plateau or ridge on which Fort Stephenson 
•was located and on which ridge ran the Harrison trail to the southwest 
up through Spiegel Grove and on to Fort Seneca. The next ravine 
south of this extended between Birchard avenue and Garrison street, 
one branch ran towards the Methodist church through the Dorr and 
McCulloch property. It was from this last named ravine that the British 
Grenadiers made a feint against Capt. Hunter's company just before Col: 
Shortt made his assault on the northwest corner of the fort 

Lieut. Col. Short and Lieut. J. G. Gordon, of the 41st Regt. were 
buried near the south entrance of the high school building. 

RECEPTION AT SPIEGEL GROVE. 

Following the exercises of the afternoon at Fort Stephenson, an 
informal reception was held at Spiegel Grove, to the out-of-town guests 
of the city and the citizens at large. Col. Webb C. Hayes, the prime 
miover of the whole celebration, Mr. and Mrs. Birchard A. Hayes and 
Mrs. Fanny Hayes Smith cordially received the guests on the great 
piazza, where the Vice-President, the Governor, the Governor's Staff 
and the stafif and line officers of the Sixth Regiment were guests of 
honor. Great nurnbers of persons moved about through the beautiful 
grounds, enjoying the music by the Light Guard Band stationed in 
front of the house, the superb weather and the gay spectacle. The week 
having been observed as Old Home Week, many former residents of 
Fremont were at hand to renew old acquaintances and assist in doing 
the honors of the place to the crowds of strangers. 

THE VENETIAN SPECTACLE. 

With the falling of dusk the immense crowds commenced to assemble 
to witness the glories of as realistic a Venetian night as was possible 
to produce, following the plans originated by Dr. Stamm, who has 
several times viewed these spectacles in Venice. 

The river banks between the L. E. & W. and State street bridges 
were thronged with crowds, while the special guests and those, by whose 
-efforts the day was a success, occupied the guests' stand, built on the 
water just north of the bridge. 

More than a hundred boats and launches, gaily decorated and illum- 
inated, approached the reviewing stand, presenting a beautiful sight 
■with their swaying colored lights on a background of dark sky. 



56 



Ohio .Ircli. aiuf Hist. Society [Publications. 



emphasized by the hundreds of Japanese lanterns strung along either 
bank and in sweeping festooons across the big Lake Erie bridge. Near 
the bridge, and extending across the river, were seven of the largest boats 
in the river, bearing huge electric transparencies upon which appeared 
six-foot letters spelling the name Croghan, which was also seen in a 
set piece. The hit of the evening was the reproduction of Fort Stephen- 
son on the southern extremity of Bradj^'s Island. 
Old Betsy in life-size repioduction belched forth 
\()llej'^s of colored fireballs, accompanied with heavy 
detonations and clouds of smoke and the sharp re- 
ports of musketrj' and small arms, cleverly imitated 
with fireworks. At brief intervals the entire fort 
was beautifully illuminated with red fire, which 
lirought out in striking relief the details of the 
stockade. Old Betsy, her men, the sally posts, etc. 
The barge on board of which w^ere the Light 
Guard band, the Maennerchor singers. Miss Reese, 
the vocalist of the evening, and the orchestra were 
moored near the Lake Erie bridge and strung with 
electric lights. 

The fireworks, in charge of Chief Reiff, of the fire department, were 
magnificent and no accidents occurred. Especial praise is due Charles 
Hermon, the lamplighter, who superintended the illuminations. Commo- 
dore Coonrod's fleet as managed by Charles Grable, was a thing of 
beauty. The display occupied three hours and general satisfaction on the 
part of all was evident in their attention. 



^Hf^^l^ 





DR. STAMM. 



HARRISON'S NORTHWESTERN CAMPAIGN. 

The best description extant of General Harrison's Northwestern 
Campaign is that contained in "A History of the Late War in the 
Western Country," by Robert B. McAfee, Lexington, Ky., 1816, a rare 
and valuable volume. 

Major McAfee was himself an officer in that campaign, serving as 
a captain in the regiment of mounted riflemen commanded by Col. Richard 
M. Johnson. 

In his Preface he acknowledges his indebtedness to Gen. Harrison, 
Governor Shelby, Colonels Croghan and Tod and Colonel Wood of the 
Engineers for official correspondence and assistance in procuring material 
and formation. The chapter relating to the Tippecanoe campaign in 
1811 contains the following references to some of the Kentucky Vol- 
unteers : 

"Colonel Keiger, who raised a small company of 79 men near 
Louisville, including among them Messrs. Croghan, O'Fallen, Shipp, 
Chum and Edwards, who afterward distinguished themselves as officers 
in the nrmv of the United States." 



'Die Croghan Celebration. 57 

Governor Slielby in his letters to the War Department speaks 
highly of Colonel Boyd and his brigade and of Clark and Croghan who 
were his aides. 

Of the above. Croghan and Shipp fought together at the defense 
of Fort Stephenson. Shipp was the officer sent by Croghan to meet the 
flag of truce sent b\- General Proctor when the formal demand for the 
surrender of Fort Stephenson was made. O'Fallen was a cousin of 
Croghan and during the campaign was aide-de-camp to General Harrison. 
We copy from McAfee his account of the defense of Fort Stephenson 
and of Harrison's expedition to Canada and the victorious battle at the 
Thames. Also Colonel Croghan's subsequent campaign against the British 
at Mackinac in the joint army and naval expedition under the command 
of Commodore Sinclair. 

"General Harrison had returned from Cleveland to Lower Sandusky 
(July, 1813) several days before the arrival of the enemy, and received 
at that place from the express the information that Camp Meigs was 
again invested. He then immediately removed his headquarters to Seneca 
town, about nine miles up the Sandusky river, where he constructed a 
fortified camp, having left Major Croghan with 160 regulars in Fort 
Stephenson and taken with him to Seneca about 140 more, under the 
immediate command of Colonel Wells. A few days afterward he was 
reinforced by the arrival of 300 regulars under Colonel Paul, and Colonel 
Ball's corps of 150 dragoons, which made his whole force at that place 
upwards of 600 strong. He was soon joined also by Generals Mc Arthur 
and Cass; and Colonel Owings with a regiment of 500 regulars from Ken- 
tucky, was also advancing to the frontiers; but he did not arrive at head- 
quarters before the siege of Fort Meigs had been abandoned by the 
enemy. * * * 

The force which Proctor and Tecumseh brought against us in this 
instance has been ascertained to have been about 5,000 strong. A greater 
number of Indians were collected by them for this expedition than ever 
were assembled in one body on any other occasion during the whole war. 

Having raised the siege of Camp Meigs, the British sailed round 
into Sandusky bay, whilst a competent number of their savage allies 
marched across through the swamps of Portage River, to co-operate in 
a combined attack at Lower Sandusky, expecting no dotibt that General 
Harrison's attention would be chiefly directed to forts Winchester and 
Meigs. The General however had calculated on their taking this course, 
and had been careful to keep patrols down the bay, opposite the mouth 
of Portage River, where he supposed their forces would debark. 

Several days before the British had invested Fort Meigs, General 
Harrison, with Major Croghan and some other officers, had examined the 
heights which surround Fort Stephenson; and as the hill on the opposite 
or southeast side of the river, was found to be the most commanding 
eminence, the General had some thoughts of removing the fort to that 
place, and Major Croghan declared his readiness to undertake the work.. 



58 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

But the General did not authorize him to do it, as he believed that if 
the enemy intended to invade our territory again, they would do it be- 
fore the removal could be completed. It was then finally concluded, that 
the fort which was calculated for a garrison of only two hundred men, 
could not be defended against the heavy artillery of the enemy; and that 
if the British should approach it by water, which would cause a pre- 
sumption that they had brought their heavy artillery, the fort must be 
abandoned and burned, provided a retreat could be effected with safety. 
In the orders left with Major Croghan it was stated, — "Should the 
British troops approach you in force with cannon, and you can dis- 
cover them m time to effect a retreat, you will do so immediately, destroy- 
ing all the public stores. * * * You must be aware that the attempt 
to retreat in the face of an Indian force would be vain. Against such 
an enemy your garrison would be safe, however great the number." 

On the evening of the ■29th, Gen. Harrison received intelligence by 
express from Gen. Clay, that the enemy had abandoned the siege of Fort 
Meigs ; and as the Indians on that day had swarmed in the woods round 
his camp, he entertained no doubt but an immediate attack was intended 
either on Sandusky or Seneca. He therefore immediately called a council 
of war, consisting of McArthur, Cass, Ball, Paul, Wood, Hukill, Holmes 
and Graham, who were unanimously of the opinion that Fort Stephen- 
son was untenable against heavy artillery, and that as the enemy could 
bring with facility any quantity of battering cannon against it, by which 
it must inevitably fall, and as it was an unimportant post, containing 
nothing the loss of which would be felt by us, that the garrison should 
therefore not be reinforced but withdrawn and the place destroyed. In 
pursuance of this decision the General immediately despatched the fol- 
lowing order to Major Croghan: 

"Sir, immediately on receiving this letter, you will abandon Fort 
Stephenson, set fire to it and repair with your command this night to 
headquarters. Cross the river and come up on the opposite side. If 
you should deem and find it impracticable to make good your march 
to this place, take the road to Huron and pursue it with the utmost 
circumspection and despatch." 

This order was sent by Mr. Conner and two Indians, who lost 
their way in the dark and did not arrive at Fort Stephenson before 11 
o'clock the next day. When Major Croghan received it, he could not 
then retreat with safety, as the Indians were hovering round the fort 
in considerable force. He called a council of his officers, a majority 
of whom coincided with him in opinion that a retreat would be unsafe, 
and that the post could be maintained against the enemy at least until 
further instructions could be received from headquarters. The major 
therefore immediately returned the following answer : 

"Sir, I have received yours of yesterday, 10 o'clock P. M., ordering 
Tne to destroy this place and make good my retreat, which was received 



The Croghaii Celebration. 59 

too late to be carried into execution. We have determined to maintain 
this place and hy heavens w^e can." 

Ln writing this note Major Croghan had a view to the probability 
of its falling into the hands of the enemy, and on that account made 
use of a stronger language than would otherwise have been consistent 
with propriety. It reached the General on the same day, who did not 
fully understand the circumstances and motives under which it had bee^i 
dictated. The following order was therefore immediately prepared, and 
sent with Colonel Wells in the morning, escorted by Colonel Ball with 
his corps of dragoons. 

"July 30, 1813. 

"Sir. The General has received your letter of this date, informing 
him that you had thought proper to disobey the order issued from this 
office, and delivered to you this morning. It appears that the informa- 
tion which dictated the order was incorrect; and as you did not receive 
it in the night as was expected, it might have been proper that you should 
have reported the circumstance and your situation, before you proceeded 
to its execution. This might have been passed over, but I am directed 
to say to you, that an officer who presumes to aver that he has made 
his resolution and that he will act in direct opposition to the orders 
of his General can no longer be entrusted with a separate command. 
Colonel Wells is sent to relieve you. You will deliver the command to 
him and repair with Col. Ball's squadron to this place. By command 
•etc.; A. H. Holmes, Asst. Adj. General." 

The squadron of dragoons on this trip met with a party of Indians 
near Lower Sandusky and killed 11 out of 12. The Indians had formed 
an ambush and fired on the advance guard consisting of a sergeant and 
five privates. Upon seeing the squadron approach they fled, but were 
pursued and soon overtaken by the front squad of Captain Hopkins's 
troop. The greater part of them were cut down by Colonel Ball and 
Captain Hopkins with his subalterns, whose horses being the fleetest over- 
took them first. The loss on our part was two privates wounded and 
two horses killed. 

Colonel Wells being left in the command of Fort Stephenson, Major 
Croghan returned with the squadron to headquarters. He there explained 
his motives for writing such a note, which were deemed satisfactory and 
liaving remained all night with the General who treated him politely, 
he was permitted to return to his command in the morning with written 
orders similar to those he had received before. 

A reconnoitering party which had been sent from headquarters to 
the shore of the lake, about 20 miles distant from Fort Stephenson, dis- 
covered the approach of the enemy by water on the evening of the 31st 
of July. They returned by the fort, after 12 o'clock the next day. and 
had passed it but a few hours when the enemy made their appearance 
before it. The Indians showed themselves first on the hill over the river, 



60 Ohio Arch, ivid Hist. Society I'iiblicatio)is. 

and were >alutcd bv a U-puiinder, the only ])iece ot artillery in the fort^ 
which soon catiscd them to retire. In half an hour the British gun- 
boats came in sight: and the Indian forces displayed themselves in every 
direction, with a view to intercept the garrison should a retreat be 
attempted. The (i-pounder was fired a few times at the gun-boats, 
which was returned by the artillery of the enemy. A landing of their 
troops with a oJ-inch howitzer was effected about a mile below the 
fort; and Major Chambers accompanied by Dickson was despatched 
towards the fort with a flag, and was met on the part of Major Cro- 
ghan by Ensign Shipp of the I7th Regiment, .\fter the usual cere- 
rnonies Major Chambers observed to Ensign Shipp, that he was in- 
structed by Gen. Proctor to demand the surrender of the fort, as he 
was anxious to spare the effusion of human blood, which he could not 
do, should he be imder the necessity of reducing it by the powerful force 
of artillery, regulars and Indians under his command. Shipp replied 
that the commandant of the fort and its garrison were determined to 
defend it to the last extremity, that no force however great could induce 
them to surrender, as they were resolved to maintain their post or ta 
bury themselves in its ruins. Dickson then said that their immense 
body of Indians could not be restrained from massacring the whole 
garrison in case of success — of which we have no dotibt, rejoined 
Chambers, as we are amply prepared. Dickson then proceeded to re- 
mark that it was a pity so fine a j'oung man should fall into the hands 
of the savages — sir, for God's sake surrender, and prevent the dreadful 
massacre that will be caused by your resistance. Mr. Shipp replied that 
when the fort was taken there would be none to massacre. It will not 
be given uj) while a man is able to resist. An Indian at this moment 
came out of an adjoining ravine and advancing to the Ensign took hold 
of his sword and attempted to wrest it from him. Dickson interfered, 
and having restrained the Indian, affected great anxiety to get him safe 
into the fort. 

The enemy now opened their fire from their G-pounders in the gun 
boats and the howitzer on shore, which they continued through the 
night with but little intermission and with very little effect. The forces 
of the enemy consisted of about 500 regulars, and about 800 Indians 
commanded by Dickson, the whole being commanded by Gen. Proctor 
in person. Tecumseh was stationed on the road to- fort Meigs with a 
body of 2,000 Indians, expecting to intercept a reinforcement on that 
route. 

Major Croghan through the evening occasionally fired his H-poundcr, 
at the same time changing its place occasionally to induce a belief that 
he had more than one piece. As it produced vtrv little execution on 
the enemy, and In was desirous of saving his rnninunition, he soon dis- 
continued his fire. The enemy had directed their fire against the north- 
western angle of the fort whicli induced the connnandant to believe that 
an attempt to storm his work^ would lie made at that point. In the 



The Croghait (.'clchratioii. 61 

night Captain iiuiitcr was directed to remmc the (j-pounder tu a hhjck- 
house from which it would rake that angle. By great industry and per- 
sonal exertion, Captain Hunter soon accomplished this object in secrecy. 
The embrasure was masked, and the piece loaded with a half charge of 
powder and double charge of slugs and grape shot. 

Early in the morning of the second, the enemy opened their fire 
from their howitzer, and three 6-ponnders which they had landed in 
the night, and planted ni a [loint of woods about "_'■")<• \ards from the 
fort. In the evening, about 4 o'clock, they concentrated the fire of all 
their guns on the northwest angle, which convinced Major Croghan that 
they would endeavor to make a breach and storm the works at that 
point ; he therefore immediately had that place strengthened as much 
as possible with bags of flour and sand, wdiich were so effectual that 
the picketing in that place sustained no material injury. Sergeant Weaver 
with five or six gentlemen of the Petersburg Volunteers and Pittsburgh 
Blues, who happened to be in the fort, was entrusted with the manage- 
ment of the ti-pounder. 

Late in the evening when the smoke of the firing had completely 
enveloped the fort, the enemy proceeded to make the assault. Two 
feints were made towards the southern angle, where Captain Hunter's 
lines were formed: and at the same time a coltmm of 350 men were dis- 
covered advancing through the smoke, within "20 paces of the north- 
western angle. A heavy galling fire of musketry was now opened upon 
them from the fort which threw them into some confusion. Colonel 
Shortt who headed the principal column soon rallied his men and led 
them with great bravery to the brink of the ditch. After a momentary 
pause he leaped into the ditch, calling to his men to follow him, and in 
a few minutes it was full. The masked porthole was now opened, and 
the 6-pounder, at a distance of 30 feet, poured such destruction upon- 
them that but few who had entered the ditch were fortunate enough to 
escape. A precipitate and confused retreat was the immediate conse- 
quence, although some of the officers attempted to rally their men. The 
other column which was led by Colonel Warburton and Major Chambers, 
was also routed in confusion by a destructive fire from the line com- 
manded by Captain Hunter. The wdiole of them fled into the adjoining 
wood, beyond the reach of our small arms. During the assault, which 
lasted half an hour, the enemy kept up an incessant fire from their 
howitzer and five 6-pounders. The}' left Colonel Shortt. a lieutenant 
and 25 privates dead in the ditch ; and the total number of prisoners 
taken was 26, most of them badly wounded. Major Muir was knocked 
down in the ditch, and lay among the dead, till the darkness of the 
night enabled him to escape in safet}-. The loss of the garrison was 
one killed and 7 slightly wotmded. The total loss of the enemy could 
not be less tlian 150 killed and wounded.- 

When night came on, which was soon after the assault, the wounded 
in the ditch were in a desperate situation. Complete relief could not be 



62 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

brought to them b}- either side wilh any degree of. safety. .Major Cro- 
ghan however reHeved them ae much as possible — he contrived to convey 
them water over the picketting in buckets, and a ditch was opened under 
the pickets through which those who were able and willing were en- 
couraged to crawl into the fort. All who were able preferred of course 
to follow their defeated comrades, and many others were carried from 
the vicinity of the fort by the Indians, particularly their own killed and 
wounded; and in the night about 3 o'clock the whole British and Indian 
force commenced a disorderly retreat. So great wa& their precipitation^ 
that they left a sail boat containing some clothing and a considerable 
quantity of military stores; and on the next day 70 stand of arms and 
some braces of pistols were picked up round the fort. Their hurry and 
confusion was caused by the apprehension of an attack from Gen. Har- 
rison, of whose position and force they had probably received an exag- 
gerated account. 

It was the intention of Gen. Harrison, should the enemy succeed 
against Fort Stephenson, or should they endeavor to turn his left and 
fall back on Upper Sandusky, to leave his camp at Seneca and fall back 
for the protection of that place. But he discovered by the firing on the 
evening of vhe 1st inst that the enemy had nothing but light artillery, 
which could make no impression on the fort ; and he knew that an 
attempt to storm it without making a breach could be successfully re- 
pelled by the garrison; he therefore determined to wait for the arrival 
of 250 mounted volunteers under Rennick, being the advance of 700 who 
were approaching by the way of Upper Sandusky, and then to march 
against the enemy and raise the siege, if their force was not still too 
great for his. On the 2d inst. he sent several scouts to ascertain their 
situation and force; but the woods were so infested with Indians that 
none of them could proceed sufficiently near' the fort to make the neces- 
sary discoveries. In the night a messenger arrived at headquarters with 
intelligence that the enemy were preparing to retreat. About 9 o'clock 
Major Croghan had ascertained from their collecting about their boats 
that they were preparing to embark, and immediately sent an express 
to the commander-in-chief with this information. The general now de- 
termined to wait no longer for reinforcements, and immediately set out 
with the dragoons, with which he reached the fort early in the morning, 
having ordered Generals McArthur and Cass, who had arrived at Seneca 
several days before, to follow him with all disposable infantry at that 
place, and which at this time was about 700 men, after the numerous 
sick, and the force necessary to maintain the position were left behind. 
Finding that the enemy had fled entirely from the fort so as not to be 
reached by him, and learning that Tecumseh was somewhere in the 
direction of Fort Meigs with 2,000 warriors, he immediately ordered the 
infantry to fall back to Seneca, lest Tecumseh should make an attack 
on that place, or intercept the small reinforcements advancing from the 
Ohio. 



The Croghan Celebration. 63- 

In his official report of this alifair, General Harrison observes that, 
"It will not be among the least of Gen. Proctor's mortifications to find 
that he has been baffled by a youth who has just passed his twenty-first 
year. He is, however, a hero worthy of his gallant uncle, Gen. George 
R. Clarke." 

"Captain Hunter, of the 17th Regiment, the second in command, 
conducted himself with great propriety; and never was there a set of 
finer young fellows than the subalterns, viz., Lieutenants Johnson and 
Baylor, of the 17th; Anthony, of the 24th; Meeks, of the 7th, and 
Ensigns Shipp and Dpncan of the 17th." 

Lieutenant Anderson, of the 24th, was also mentioned for his good 
conduct. Being without a command, he solicited Major Croghan for a 
musket, and a post to fight at, which he did with the greatest bravery. 

"Too much praise," says Major Croghan, "cannot be bestowed on 
the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates under my command 
for their gallantry and good conduct during the siege." 

The brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel was immediately conferred 
on Major Croghan by the president of the United States for his gal- 
lant conduct on this occasion. The ladies of Chillicothe also presented 
him an elegant sword accompanied by a suitable address. 

On the 9th of August, at Lower Sandusky, a British boat was 
discovered coming up the river with a flag. When it landed below 
the fort. Captain Hunter was sent to meet the commander, who proved 
to be Lieut. LeBreton, accompanied by Doctor Banner, with a letter 
from Gen. Proctor to the commandant at Lower Sandusky, their object 
being to ascertain the situation of the British wounded and afford them 
surgical aid. Captain Hunter invited them to the fort. Le Breton 
seemed to hesitate, as if he expected first to be blind-folded, as usual 
in such cases; but Captain Hunter told him to come on, that there was 
nothing in the fort which there was any reason to conceal ; and when 
he introduced him to Major Croghan as the commandant of the fort, 
he ^appeared to be astonished at the youthful appearance of the hero, 
who had defeated the combined forces of his master. 

As the letter of General Proctor also contained a proposition for 
the paroling of those prisoners who might be in a condition to be re- 
moved, the flag was sent bjj Major Croghan to headquarters at Seneca. 
Gen. Harrison replied to the letter of Proctor, that "Major Croghan, 
conformably to those principles which are held sacred in the American 
army, had caused all possible care to be taken of the wounded prisoners 
that his situation would admit — that every aid which surgical skill could 
give was afforded," and that he had already referred the disposal of 
the prisoners to his government and must wait for their determination. 
Dr. Banner in the meantime had examined the situation of the wounded, 
and was highly gratified with the humane treatment they had received. 
He informed Major Croghan that the Indians were highly incensed at the 



•64 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

failure of the late expedition and were kept together with the utmost 
difficulty. 

* * * 

[Governor Shelby.] 

Headol-.xkters, Seneca. 12 Sept., 1813. 

"You will find arm.s at Upper Sandusky: also a considerable quan- 
tity at Lower Sandusky. I set out from this place in an hour. Our fleet 
has beyond all doubt met that of tlie enemy. The day before yesterday 
an incessant and tremendous canminading- was heard in the direction 
of IMaldcn by a detachment of troops coming from Fort ]\Ieigs. It 
lasted two hours. I am all anxiety for the result. There will h% no oc- 
casion for your halting here. Lower Sandusky affords fine grazing. With 
respect to a station for your horses, there is the best in the world im- 
mediately at the place of embarkation. The Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie, 
and Portage river form between them a peninsula, 'the isthmus of which 
is only a mile and a half across. A fence of that length, and a sufficient 
guard left there, would make all the horses of the army safe. It would 
enclose fifty or sixty thousand acres, in which are many cultivated fields, 
which have been abandoned are now grown up with the finest grass. Your 
sick had better be left at LTpper Sandusky or here. 

H.^RRISON"." 

Within half an hour after the above letter was written, the gen- 
eral received the following laconic note from the commodore, by express 
from Lower Sandusky : 

"U. S. Brig Niagara, off the Wester Sister, Etc.. 

September 10, 1813. 
"Dear General — We have met the enemy and they are ours — 
two ships, two brigs, one schooner and a sloop. 

"Yours with great respect and esteem, 

Oliver Hazard Perry." , 

V 

The exhilirating news set Lower Sandusky and camp Seneca in 
an uproar of tumultous joy. The general immediately proceeded to the 
former place, and issued his orders for the movement of the troops, 
and transportation of the provisions, military stores, etc., to the margin 
of the lake, preparatory to their embarkation. 

In bringing down the military stores and provisions from the posts 
on the Sandusky river, to the vessels in the lake, a short land carriage 
became necessary to expedite the embarkation. The peninsula formed by 
the Sandusky Bay on the right and by the Portage river and Lake Erie 
on the left, extending between fifteen and twenty miles from the anchor- 
age of the shipping in the mouth of the Portage ; at which place the 
isthmus on which the army was encamped was less than two miles 



TIic Croghan Celebration. ti5 

across from one river lo the (Uhcr. 'Ilu- boats in going round the 
peninsula to the slii])i)ing, would have to travel upward of forty miles, 
and to he exposed to the dangers of the lake navigation. It was there- 
fore deemed the most safe and expeditious to ti"ansport the stores and 
drag the boats across the isthmus, which was accomplished between the 
15th and :^Oth of the month, whilst the army was detained in making 
other necessary arrangements. 

The Kentucky froojjs were encamped across the narrmvest part 
of the isthnuis. above the place of embarkation; and each regiment was 
ordered to construct a strong fence of brush and fallen timber in front 
of its encampment, which extended when finished, from Portage River 
to Sandusky River. Within this enclosure their horses were turned 
loose to graze on ample pastures of excellent grass. The preparations 
for the expedition being nearly completed, it became necessary to detail 
a guard to be left for the protection of the horses. The commandants 
of regiments were ordered by the governor to detach one-twentieth part 
of their commands for this service ; and Colonel Christopher Rife was 
designated as their commander. In furnishing the men. many of the 
colonels had to resort to a draft, as volunteers to stay on this side the 
lake could not be obtained. 

On the 20th, Gen. Harrison embarked with the regular troops 
under Generals IMcArthur and Cass, and arrived the same day at Put- 
in-Bay in Bass Island, and about 10 miles distant from the point of 
embarkation. Next morning the governor (Shelby) sailed with a part 
of his troops, having ordered Major General Desha to remain at Portage 
and bring up the rear, which he performed with great alacrity and vig- 
ilance. On that and the succeeding day all the militia arrived at Bass 
Island. Colonel Rife was left in command at Portage, with Doctor Ma- 
gufifin as his surgeon. The whole ami}- remained on Bass Island on the 
■24th, waiting for the arri\'al of all necessary,' stores and pro\'isions at 
that place. 

On the 25th, the whole army moved to the Middle Sister, a small 
island containing about five or six acres of ground, which was now 
crowded with men, having about 4,500 upon it. Whilst the transport 
vessels were bringing up the military stores and provisions on the 26th, 
Gen. Harrison sailed with Commodore Perry in the Ariel to recon- 
noitre ofif Maiden, and ascertain a suitable point on the lake shore for 
the debarkation of his troops. 

On Monday the 27th, the whole army was embarked early in the 
day, and set sail from the Middle Sister for the Canada shore. Gen. 
Harrison having previously circulated a general order among the troops 
in which he exhorted them to remember the fame of their ancestors and 
the justice of the cause in which they were engaged. 

Soon after the British force had surrendered and it was dis- 
covered that the Indians were yielding on the left. Gen. Harrison ordered 
Vol. XVI— 5. 



66 



Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 



Major Payne to pursue Gen. Proctor with a part of his battalion. * * * 
But Proctor was not to be taken. His guilty conscience had told him 
that his only chance for safety from the vengeance of those whose 
countrymen he had murdered lay in the celerity of his ilight. The 
pursuers, however, at Jast pressed him so closely that he was obliged 
to abandon the road, and his carriage and sword were captured by the 
gallant Major Wood. — Six pieces of brass artillery were taken, three of 
which had been captured in tlic Ivrvnlminii at Saratoga and York, and 
surrendered again by Hull in Detroit." 

Lieut.-Colonel Eleazer Wood was one of the first graduates of the 
military academy at West Point, 1806, and was a distinguished engineer. 
In 1812 he built the fort at Lower Sandusky, which was later named 
after Col. Stephenson, and was so gallantly defended by Major George 
Croghan on the 2d of August, 1813. He was also the engineer who 
planned Fort Meigs in 1813, and participated most gallantly in its siege 
and also in the Battle of the Thames. He was killed September 17, 1814. 

Proctor's carriage, captured by Major Wood, was brought to Lower 
Sandusky, and for many years was shown upon all public occasions as one 
of the trophies of the war, second in interest only to "Old Betsy." 

One of the "six pieces of brass artillery" referred to above, is 
now one of the most cherished relics in the museum on Fort Stephenson. 
It is a handsome brass piece, evidently a French gun originally, as it 
lias near its muzzle the royal cipher of King Louis of France. It was 
presented to King George of England, or was captured by him, and has 
the monogram G. R., with the crown, near its base. It was captured 
from the British under Burgoyne at Saratoga, and in common with other 
trophies was elaborately inscribed : 



TAKEN AT THE STORM OF 

THE BRITISH LINE NEAR SARATOGA. 

BY 



October 



1777. 



After Benedict Arnold turned traitor at West Point, his name was 
carefully erased from all trophies. This gun was one of the number so 
ignominously surrendered at Detroit by Gen. Hull, August 16, 1812, to 
the British Major General Brock. After being captured for the second 
time from the British under Proctor, by the Americans under Gen. Har- 
rison at the Battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813, it was retired from 
active service and has now for more than twenty-five years been an 
object of the greatest interest in the museum on the site of old Fort 
Stephenson. 



The Croghan Celebration. 67 

McAfee's History continues: In April, 1814/Colonel Butler obtained 
leave to return to Kentucky, and the command of Detroit devolved on 
Lieut.-Col. Croghan, Commodore Sinclair, who succeeded Commodore 
Perry as the naval commander on the lakes, had received orders to 
■conduct a military and naval expedition against the British on Lake 
Huron. 

About the time these instructions were communicated to the Com- 
modore, the secretary of war thought proper to send a corresponding order 
directly to Major Holmes, entirely passing by Col. Croghan, the com- 
mandant at Detroit, and merely notifying Gen. Harrison, the commander 
of the district, through whom the arrangements for the expedition should 
have been made. This course of the secretary was a violation not only 
of military etiquette, but also of the -most important military principles, 
which require that the commander of a district, or of a separate post, 
especially when situated on a distant frontier, should have the supreme 
direction of minor matters within the sphere of his command. The 
interference of the government in such matters must inevitably derange 
his plans, and produce confusion and disaster in the service. The gen- 
eral should be furnished with the object and outlines of the campaign or 
expedition and with the necessary supplies of men, money and munitions 
for accomplishing that object; and then be made responsible for their 
proper management. But the secretary in this instance issued his or- 
ders to Major Holmes under the nose of his colonel, whereby the rank 
and authority of the latter were superseded, and the resources of his post 
were to be clandestinely withdrawn from his power. This was highly 
resented by Colonel Croghan, who communicated his sentiments on this 
subject without reserve to Commodore Sinclair and Gen. Harrison. He 
assured the Commodore that he had already taken every means to recon- 
noitre the upper lakes and the country with a view to obtaining such in- 
formation as he requested, and that he would be happy to co-operate 
and assist him in the enterprise, but could not pledge himself in the 
present state of his resources to furnish any important assistance. To 
the general he wrote: "Major Holmes has been notified by the war de- 
partment that he is chosen to command the land troops, which are in- 
tended to co-operate with the fleet, against the enemy's forces on the 
tipper lakes. So soon as I may be directed by you to order Major Holmes 
on that command, and to furnish him with the necessary troops, I shall 
do so, but not till then shall he or any other part of my force leave 
the sod." — Croghan. 

In answer to a second letter from the commodore, written in the 
latter part of May, he proceeds : "I milch fear, sir, that in your ex- 
pectation of being joined at this place by a battalion or corps of regu- 
lars under Major Holmes, you will be disappointed. Major Holmes, it is 
true, has been notified by the war department that he is selected to 
command the land troops on the expedition up the lakes. But this no- 



68 



Ohio Arch, ami /list. Sucicty Publications. 



tification, even did it ahiouiu m ;i positive f)i-de-r to the major, conld not 
be considered as an order to iiie : nor can 1 deem it in itself sufficient 
to justify me in weakening the present reduced strength of my connnand. 
]\Iy objection to co-operate with you at this time is not, I assure you. 
moved by anything like chagrin at this departure from military etiquette, 
but is bottomed on a thorough conviction that nothing less than a pos- 
itive order could justify (ir excuse my detaching a part of the small force 
inder my connnand from the immediate defence of this frontier. I 
■ gree with you that the [promised force imder Major Holmes appears 
;oo weak to effect the desired end. I cannot speak positive!}' on the 
subject, as my knowledge even of the geographical situation of the coun- 
irv is but limited: vet mv belief is. that if resistance be made at all. 




SCENE IN PARADli 



it will ]irove too stout for l,nOu men. The position of Mackinaw is a 
strong one, and should the enemy hrne determined on holding it, he has 
had time enough to throw in reinforcements. The Engages i:i the cm- 
ploy of the N. W. Co., generally get down to Mackinaw from their win- 
tering grounds, about the last of May in every year. Will these hardy 
fellows, whose force exceeds 1,000, be permitted to be idle? Will it not 
be the interest of the N. W. Co. to exert all its means in the defence 
of those posts in wdiich it is so immediately concerned? I send you a 
few queries on the subject, with the answers as given by an intelligent 
gentleman, formerly an agent to the N. W. Co.. and well acquainted 
with the geographical situation of that country. Every arrangement is 
made for securing the entrance into Lake Huron. T am under no solici- 
tude about the passage up the strait." — Crogluin. 



The Ci'oghaii Celebration. 69 

Although the colonel appears to consider the order to Holmes as 
a mere notification of his appointment, yet it was certainly intended by the 
secretary to be sufficiently positive and ample to put the expedition in 
motion, without any other communication from the war department, ex- 
-cept the instructions to the Commodore. Soon after the above was writ- 
ten, the Colonel addressed another letter to Gen. Harrison, from which 
the following is an extract: "I know not how to account for the 
Secretary of War assuming to himself the right of designating Major 
Holmes for this command to Mackinaw. My ideas on the subject may 
not be correct, yet for the sake of the principle were I a general com- 
manding a district, I would be very far from suffering the Secretary of 
War, or any other authority, to interfere with my internal police. 

"I have not yet been able, even by three attempts, to ascertain 
whether the enemy is building boats at Mackedash (Gloucester Bay). 
None of my spies would venture far enough, being either frightened 
at the view of Lake Huron, or alarmed at the probability of meeting 
hostile Indians." — Croghan. 

This letter was written in the latter part of May. Gen. Harrison, 
actuated by similar sentiments, had already resigned his comiiiission of 
Major General in the army, which he had received about the time his 
appointment in the Kentucky militia had expired. He believed that the 
Secretary of War disliked him, and had intentionally encroached' on 
the prerogatives of his rank to insult him, by corresponding with the of- 
ficers under his command, and giving them orders direct which ought at 
least to have been communicated indirectly through the commander-in- 
chief of the district. He had remonstrated in a spirited manner against 
this interference, and finding it again renewed in the present case, he 
resigned his commission by the following letters to the Secretary and 
President. 

"Headquarters, Cincinnati, 11th May, 1814. 

"Sir, I have the honor through you to request the President to 
accept my resignation of the appointment of major general in the army 
with which he has honored me. 

■'Lest the public service should suffer, before a successor can be 
nominated, I shall continue to act until the 31st inst., by which time I 
hope to be relieved. 

"Having some reasons to believe that the most malicious insinua- 
tions have been made against me in Washington, it was my intention to 
have requested an inquiry into my conduct, from the commencement of 
my command. Further reflection has however determined me to de- 
cline the application — because from the proud consciousness of having 
palpably done my duty, I cannot believe that it is necessary either for 
the satisfaction of the government or the people, that I should pay so 
much respect to the suggestions of malice and envy. 

"It is necessary, however, that I should assure you, sir, that I sub- 



70 



Ohio Arcli. and Hist. Society Publications. 



scribe implicitly to the opinion that military officers are responsible for 
their conduct, and amenable to the decisions of a court martial after 
they have left the service, for any improper act committed in it. 

"The principle was established in England, in the case' of Lord 
George Sackville after the battle of Minden ; it was known and recog- 
nized by all the ancient republics ; and is particularly applicable I think 
'lO a government like ours. I therefore pledge myself to answer before a 
lourt martial at any future period, to any charge which may be brought 
against nu-. "I have the honor, etc., 

liT-x Ti T \ . .. '• "Harrison. 

The Hon. J. Armstrong, etc. 




OLD BETSY. 

Fort Stephenson is unique in retaining" its original area, 
armament and the body of its Defender. Armament is an im- 
posing naine for the one six- 
pound cannon, affectionately 
called "Old Betsy" which 
was Croghan's single piece of 
artillery. Betsy was old even 
ninety-three years ago, being 
a naval cannon captured from 
the French in the French and 
Indian wars of 1756-63. 

Otir first knowledge of the 
gun is upon the occasion of 
the first 4th of July celebra- 
tion ever held in this place, 
which occured in 1813. On the 3d, a mounted regiment .under 
Col. Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, "the man who killed 
Tecumsch" and the future vice president, marched from Fort 
Meigs to Lower Sanduskx- to recruit their horses here. "The 
Fourth was celebrated," says McAfee's History af the Late War, 
"by the garrison and mounted men together, in great harmony 
and enthtisiasm. Colonel Johnson delivered an appropriate ad- 
dress ; and a nmnber of toasts, breathing sentiments of the 
republican soldier were drunk, cheered by the shouts of the men 
and the firing of small arms and the discharge of a six-pounder 
from the fort." 

Major McAfee, in his Hi.story of the Late War, says: "A 



OLD BETSY. 



The Croghan Celebration. 71 

reconnoitering party which had been sent from headquarters to 
the shore of the lake, about twenty miles distant from Fort Steph- 
enson, discovered the approach of the enemy by water on the 
evening of the 31st of July. They returned by the fort, after 
twelve o'clock the next day, and had passed it but a few hours, 
when the enemy made their appearance before it. The Indians 
showed themselves first on the hill over the river, and were 
saluted by a six-pounder, the only piece of artillery in the fort, 
which soon caused them to retire. In half an hour the British 
gun-boats came in sight ; and the Indian forces displayed them- 
selves in every direction with a view to intercept the garrison 
should a retreat be attempted. The six-pounder was fired a few 
times at the gun-boats, which was returned by the artillery of 
the enemy." 

McAfee further says: "Sergeant Weaver with five or six 
gentlemen of the Petersburg Volunteers and Pittsburg Blues, 
who happened to be in the fort, was entrusted with the manage- 
ment of the six-pounder." 

On the first and second days of the following month "Old 
Betsy" lifted her voice in deadly earnest. How she was shifted 
from place to place in the fort to convey the impression that the 
defenders had several guns ; how she was finally hoisted into the 
blockhouse and stationed behind a masked port hole and at the 
psychological moment "raked the ditch" with a double charge of 
leaden slugs ; and the appalling fatal eft'ect — these facts have 
been related in preceding pages. 

General Harrison winds up his official report to the Secretary 
of War, August 4, 1813, as follows: 

"A young gentleman, a private in the Petersburg Volun- 
teers, of the name of Brown, assisted by five or six of that com- 
pany and the Pittsburg Blues who were accidentally in the fort, 
managed the six-pounder, which produced such destruction in 
the ranks of the enemy." The private Brown referred to was 
so severely burned by the frequent explosions of powder in the 
priming of Old Betsy, that his condition was graphically de- 
scribed by the last survivor of the Petersburg Volunteers, Reuben 
Clements, in 1879, who also said that he ^-as quite positive that 



1'2 Ohio .Ircli. and Hist. Socictx Publications. 

Brtjwn was the only incnil)er of llie I'ctersburg \ olunteers pres- 
ent (luring- tlic engagement. 

A roster of the ( ireens1nn\g Riflemen has been furnished 
by Ricliard Coulter, jr.. a grandnephew of Major John B. Alex- 
ander, who commanded an independent liattalion of U. S. twelve- 
month \ 'olunteers. consisting of the Pittsburg Blues, Capt. James 
R. Butler: the Petersburg Wilunteers. Capt. Robert McRae; the 
Greensburg Riflemen. Pieut. Peter Drum, vice Alexander, pro- 
moted Major. The roster of the Greensburg Riflemen contains 
the name of Abraham Weaver as a private in 1812, who was 
the Sergeant \\'eaver in charge of the firing scjuad of Old Betsy, 
and who returned to Greensburg, where he died in 1846. 

After the war in which the gun did such valiant service it 
was removed to the Pittsburg arsenal. Later Congress ordered 
its return to Lower Sandusky. The ingenious Thomas L. Haw- 
kins, commissary officer at Fort Stephenson during the campaign, 
identified the gun in Pittsburg, recognizing it by the scar on its 
breach which he believed was made by a cannon ball while in 
action, during the old French and Indian war. Owing to the 
duplication of the name Sandusky the cannon was sent to San- 
dusky City, wdiich for many years after the battle was called 
Ogontz's I'lace, and later Portland, and of course had no claim 
to the gun. The authorities there tried to keep it, and for better 
concealment buried it under a barn. Mayor B. J. Bartlett, of 
Lower Sandusky, traced the gun and sent men and a wagon to 
bring it home. This home-coming of Old Betsy was just prior 
to the 2(1 of August celebration of 1852, wdien the Tiffin fire 
dej:)artment came down to join in the festivities. William H. 
Ciibsoii. clad in the red shirt and white trousers of the fire 
brigade uniform, delivered the stirring address of the day, in the 
woods back of the Rawson house on .State street. 

"Old I'.etsy" is fre(|uentl\ mentioned in i)ress notices of 
former years. The l-rcinonl .hninuil u\ .^e])tember u, 1856. says: 

■'( )n tile KJtIi. about one hundred and lifty Republicans of 
l-'remont took passage on the Lsland Queen for Sandusky to 
join in the mass gatherings of Frejmen. \\\- were accompanied 
by "( )1(1 Betsy." It talked some, and had manv admirers, and 
will) the I iH'iiiiiui (Klegatioii was receive(l b\ the thousands with 



The Ci'og/iaii Celebration. 78 

three tremendous cheers. The day was a glorious one for the 
cause of freedom." This of course foreshadows the civil war. 

"Who used Old Betsy last?" asks the Journal of January 
23, 1857. "It has been standing in the street for several weeks 
now. Captain Parrish should see to this old servant." 

In a long article on the celebration of August 2, i860, the 
Journal says : "At 6 o'clock Captain Parrish brought out 'Old 
Bets}' and fired a salute of thirteen rounds. Soon after the peo- 
ple of the county began to pour in. Cassius M. Clay was the 
orator of the day." At the celebration of 1852 Thomas L Haw- 
kins, a well-known Methodist preacher and the town poet, who 
had been appointed commissary of the fort after the battle of 
Fort Stephenson, read a poem addressed to the old six-pounder, 
apostrophizing her as Betsy Croghan, a name by which she is 
frequently called. This poem is printed below. In another 
poem on Croghan's victory, Mr. Hawkins calls her "Our Bess," 
while tradition has it that the garrison called her "Good Bess." 
But "Old Betsy" she is now and ever will be in local and na- 
tional parlance. Little children play about her, the birds often 
build their nests in her mouth, visitors pass curious hands over 
her breech, and young reporters take her photograph and write 
"story" about her. After all she is the only one left who saw 
our hero in battle, who heard the quick orders of those two days' 
fight, who faced the oncoming veterans of Wellington's troops 
and settled it that they should rest thereafter in Lower Sandusky 
soil. 

"Old Betsy's" voice will probably never be heard again, but 
as she stands her silent guard over the remains of George Cro- 
ghan, on the scene of their great victory, she "yet speaketh." 

"OLD BETSY." 

THOMAS L. HAWKINS. 

Hail ! thou old friend, of Fort MeGee 
Little did I expect again to see, 
And hear thy voice of victory, 
Thou defender of Ohio ' 



74 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

I wonder who it was that sought thee, 
To victory's ground again hath brought thee 
From strangers' hands at length hath caught thee; 
He is a friend to great Ohio ! 

He is surely worthy of applause, 
To undertake so good a cause, 
Although a pleader of her laws, 
And statutes of Ohio. 

What shame thy blockhouse is not standing. 
Thy pickets as at first commanding. 
Protecting Sandusky's noble landing, 
The frontier of Ohio ! 

Thy pickets, alas I are all unreared. 
No faithful sentinel on guard. 
Nor band of soldiers well prepared. 
Defending great Ohio. 

Where have the upthrown ditches gone. 
By British cannon rudely torn? 
Alas ! with grass they are o'ergrown. 
Neglected by Ohio. 

O tell me where thy chieftains all — 
Croghan, Dudley, Miller, Ball, 
Some of whom I know did fall 
In defending of Ohio. 

Canst thou not tell how Proctor swore. 
When up yon matted turf he tore. 
Which shielded us from guns a score, 
He poured upon Ohio? 

And how Tecumseh lay behind you ; 
With vain attempts he tried to blind you, 
And unprepared, he'd find you, 
.\nd lead you from Ohio. 

Perhaps like Hamlet's ghost, you've come, 
This day to celebrate the fame 
Of Croghan's honored, worthy name, 
The hero of Ohio. 



The Cros:han Celebration. 



76 



I greet thee! Thou art just in time 
To tell of victory most sublime, 
Though told in unconnected rhyme ; 
Thou art welcome in Ohio. 

But since thou canst thyself speak well, 
Now let thy thundering voice tell 
What bloody carnage then befell 
The foes of great Ohio. 

(And then she thundered loud.) 



PROCTOR S REPORT OF THE BATTLE OF FORT STEPHENSON. 

The following' letter, recently unearthed by Col. Webb C. 
Hayes in the Canadian Archives at Ottawa, is most interesting 
as giving General Proctor's ow^n account of the battle in which 
he was so badly worsted. It is addressed to Sir George Provist. 
Lieut. General, at Kingston, and reads : 

"Sir : It being absolutely requisite for several urgent reasons that 
my Indian force should not remain unemployed, and being well aware 
^ that it would not be movable except accompanied by 

a regular force, I resolved, notwithstanding the 
smallness of that force to move and where we might 
be fed at the expense of the enemy. I had, however, 
the mortification to find that instead of the Indian 
force being a disposable one, or under my direction, 
our movements would be subject to the caprices and 
prejudices of the Indian body to a degree in which 
my regular force was disproportionate to their num- 
bers. For several weeks after the arrival of Mr. R. 
Dickson, his Indians were restrainable and tractable 
to a degree that I could not have conceived possible. 
I am sorry to add that they have been contaminated 
by the other Indians. 
I was, very contrary to my judgment, necessitated to go to the 
Miami, in the vicinity of the enemy's fort, where I remained a few days 
in the hope that General Harrison might come to the relief of the fort 
which was invested in the Indian mode, when finding that the Indians 
were returning to Detroit and Amherstberg I moved to Lower Sandusky 
where, however, we could not muster more hundreds of Indians than 
I might reasonably have expected thousands. The neighborhood of 
Sandusky, and the settlement on the Huron river, eight miles below it, 
could have afforded cattle sufficient to have fed my whole Indian force 
for some time, had they been induced to accompany us. Sandusky is 




MAJOR CROGHAX. 



76 Oliio .Inii. and Hisl. Society I'liblications. 

nearlj- fifty iiiiK's liy water from Lake Eric and nearly forty miles from 
several points wlu-nce strong reinforcements might be expected; I could 
not therefore with my very small force remain more than two days, 
from tlie probability of Ix-ing cut otY and of being deserted by the few 
Indians who had not already done so. 

The fort at Sanduskj' is composed of blockhouses connected by 
picketing wliicli they llank. and is calculated for a garrison of five or six 
hundred nun. On viewing the fort I formed an opinion entirely different 
from any person under my command. The general idea being that that 
garrison did not exceed fifty men, and that the fort could be easily 
carried by a.ssault. On the morning of the "Jd inst. the gentlemen of 
the Indian Department, who have the direction of it, declared formally 
their decided opinion that unless the fort was stormed we should never 
be able to bring an Indian warrior into the field with us, and that they 
proposed and were ready to stonn one fan of the fort, if we would 
attempt another. I have also to observe that in this instance my judg- 
ment had not that weight with the troops I hope I might reasonably 
have expected. If I had withdrawn without having permitted the assault, 
as my judgment certainly dictated, much satisfaction would have followed 
me and I could scarcely have reconciled to myself to have continued to 
direct their movements. I thus with all the responsibility resting on me 
was obliged to yield to circumstances I could not possibly have pre- 
vented. The troops, after the artillery had been used for some hours, 
attacked two fans, and impossibilities being attempted, failed. The fort, 
from which the severest fire I ever saw was maintained during the 
attack, was well defended. The troops displayed the greatest bravery, 
the much greater part of whom reached the fort and made every effort 
to enter; but the Ir.dians who had proposed the as.sault and had it 
not been assented to would have ever stigmatized the British character, 
scarcely came into fire, before they ran off out of its reach. A more 
than adequate sacrifice having been made to Indian opinion, I drew off 
the brave assailants who had been carried away by a high sense of honor 
to urge too strongly the attack. I enclose a disembarcation return to 
show how small my disposable force was. The enemy had a six-pounder 
and a smaller one in the fort. I also enclose a return of the killed, 
wounded and missing. Our loss tiiough severe and nuich to be regretted, 
is less, everything considered, than could have been expected. You will 
perceive that the Indian force is seldom a disposable one, never to be 
relied on in hour of need, and only to be found useful in proportion as 
we are independent of it. Ten Indians were surprised on a plain near 
Sandusky and were iiit to i)ieces. The Indians have always had a dread 
of cavalry of which the enemy have a considerable luunber. A troop of 
the 19th would be of the greatest service here in the confidence they would 
give to our mounted Indians. I have experienced much dcficience in my 
artillery, another officer at least is absolutely recpiisite, and one of 



TJic Croghan Celebration. 77 

science and experience. Tlie enemy's defences are composed of wood; 
if we knew how to burn ihem as they did ours at Fort George, Mr. 
Harrison's army must have been destroyed long since. The enemy's ves- 
sels are out of Presqueisle Harbor, and so decidedly stronger than ours 
that Captain Barclay has been necessitated to return to Amherstburg, 
and with all haste to get the new vessel ready for sea, where slie will 
be in eight or ten days at furthest, and then only wants hands. 

Whatever may happen to be regretted may be fairly attributed 
to the delays in sending here the force your Excellency directed should 
be sent. Had it been sent at once, it could have been used to the greatest 
advantage, but it arrived in such small portions and with such delays 
that the opportunities have been lost.' The enemy are in great numbers 
at Presqueisle and have been already reinforced at Fort Meigs. Gen. 
Harrison's headquarters are near Lower Sandusky where he arrived on 
the 3d inst. I must now look for the enemy from two quarters and 
will have to meet them with my small force divided, for the Indians will 
make no stand without us. You will probably hear of the enemy's landing 
shortly at Long Point, where they may gain the rear of the Center Divi- 
sion and also affect my supplies. An hundred and fifty sailors would have 
effectually obviated this evil. I apprehend the enemy's rapid advance 
to the River Raisin in force, and establishing himself there, which he 
can do surprisingly soon. If I had the means I would establish a post 
at that river, but not having two or three hundred men to send there 
it is not in my power. I must entreat your Excellency to send me 
more troops, even the •2d Battalion of the 41st Regt., though weak, 
would be extremely acceptable. If the enemy should be able to establish 
themselves in the Territory it will operate strongly against us with our 
Indian allies. Your Excellency may rely on my best endeavors, but I 
rely on the troops alone, and they are but few and I am necessitated to 
man the vessels with them. I have never desponded, nor do I now, 
but I conceive it my duty to state to your Excellency the inadequateness 
of my force. 

I have the honor to be with much respect, etc., 

Henry Proctor, 
Brigadier General Commanding. 

The Briti.sh War Office contains the following brief records of the 
attack on Fort Stephenson, as mentioned in the colonial correspondence 
of -that time. 

"Headquarters, Kingston, Upper Canada, Aug. 1. 1813. 

"My Lord — The arrival of ^Ir. Dickson from the mission with 2,000 
Indian warriors, has enabled me to resume offensive operations with the 
left division of the Upper Canada army under the command of Brig. 
Gen. Proctor. IVIaj. Gen. Harrison having shown some of his cavalry 



78 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

and riflemen in the Michigan territory, a forward movement has been 
made by the Indian warriors, upon Sandusky, from whence they will 
unite with Tecumseh's band of warriors, employed in investing Fort 
Meigs. — George Provost." Also : 

"St. Davids, Niagara Frontier, Aug. 25, 1813. Maj. Gen. Proctor 
having given way to the clamor of our Indian Allies to act offensively 
moved forward on the 20th ult. with about 350 of the 41st regiment and 
between 3,000 and 4,000 Indians and on the 2nd inst. attempted to carry 
by assault the block houses and works at Sandusky where the enemy had 
concentrated a considerable force. 

He however soon experienced the timidity of the Indians when ex- 
posed to the fire of musketry and cannon in an open countrj^ and how 
little dependence could be placed on their numbers. Previous to the 
assault they could scarcely muster as many hundreds as they had before 
thousands, and as soon as it had commenced they withdrew themselves 
out of the reach of the enemy's fire. They are never a disposable force. 

The handful of his Majesty's troops employed on this occasion dis- 
played the greatest bravery; nearly the whole of them having reached 
the fort and made every effort to enter it; but a galling and destructive 
fire being kept up by the enemy from within the block houses and from 
behind the picketing which completely protected them and which we 
had not the means to force, the Major General thought it most prudent 
not to continue longer so unavailing a combat ; he accordingly drew off 
the assailants and returned to Sandwich with the loss of 25 killed, as 
many missing and about 40 wounded. Amongst the killed are Brevet 
Lieut. Col. Shortt and Lieut. J. G. Gordon of the 41st Regt." 

"The Military Occurrences of the War of 1812," by William James, 
an English publication of the time, contains the following story of Gen- 
eral Proctor's campaign against Fort Stephenson on the Sandusky, which 
is a typical British account, showing the writer's patriotic bias : 

"The American headquarters were at Seneca-town, near to San- 
dusky Bay on Lake Erie. Fort Meigs, already so strong, had its works 
placed in a still more vigorous state of defence ; and a fort had since 
been constructed on the west side of Sandusky river, about 40 miles 
from its mouth, and 10 from the general's headquarters. It stood on a 
rising ground, commanding the river to the east; having a plain to the 
north and south, and a wood to the west. The body of the fort was 
about 100 yards in length and 50 in breadth, surrounded outside of all 
by a row of strong pickets, 12 feet over ground ; each picket armed at 
top with a bayonet. Next to and against this formidable picket was an 
embankment, forming the side of a dry ditch. 12 feet wide, by seven 
feet deep; then a second embankment or glacis. A strong bastion and 
two blockhouses completely enfiladed the ditch. Within the fort were the 
hospital, military and commissary store-houses, magazines, etc. As far 
as we can collect from the American accounts, the fort mounted but one 
6-pounder; and that in a masked battery at the northwestern angle. The 



The Croghan Celebration. 79 

number of troops composing the garrison cannot exactly be ascertained. 
One American account states that the effective force did not amount to 
160 men, or rank and file. 

"Major General Proctor when he landed near the mouth of San- 
dusky river, on the 1st of x\ugust, had it is admitted no other white 
troops with him than the 41st regiment. An American editor says that 
the major general, previous to his appearance on the Sandusky, had 
detached 'Tecumseh with 2,000 warriors, and a few regulars, to make a 
diversion favorable to the attack upon Fort Stephenson ; and yet the 
same editor states Major General Proctor's force before the fort, on 
the evening of the 1st, at 500 regulars and 700 Indians.' Of the latter 
there were but 200 and they, as was generally their custom when the 
object of assault was a fortified place, withdrew to a ravine, out of 
gun-shot, almost immediately that the action commenced. Of regulars 
there were two lientenant-colonels, four captains, seven subalterns, (one 
a lieutenant of artillery) eight staff, 22 sergeants, seven drummers, and 
241 rank and file, including 23 artillerymen; making a total of 391 
officers, non-commissioned officers and privates. 

"On the morning of the 2nd the British opened their artillery 
consisting of two light 6-pounders, and two 5^ howitzers upon the fort; 
but without producing the slightest impression ; and the different Am- 
erican accounts, as we are glad to see, concur in stating, that the fort 
'was not at all injured' by the fire directed against it. Under an im- 
pression that the garrison did not exceed 50 or 60 men, the fort was 
ordered to be stormed. Lieut. Col. Shortt at the head of 180 rank and 
file, immediately advanced toward the northwest angle; while about 160 
rank and file, under Lieut.-Col. Warburton, passed around through the 
woods skirting the western side of the fort, to its south side. After 
sustaining a heavy fire of musketry from the American troops, Lieut.-Col. 
Shortt approached to the stockade ; and with some difficulty, succeeded 
in getting over the pickets. The instant this gallant officer reached the 
ditch he ordered his men to follow and assault the works with the 
utmost vigor. The masked 6-pounder, which had been previously pointed 
to rake the ditch, and loaded 'with a double charge of leaden slugs,' was 
now fired at the British column, 'the front of which was only 30 feet 
distant from the piece.' A volley of musketry was fired at the same 
instant and repeated in quick succession. This dreadful and, as to the 
battery, unexpected discharge killed Lieut.-Col. Shortt, and several of his 
trave followers; and wounded a great many more. Still undaunted, the 
men of the 41st, headed by another officer, advanced again to carry the 
masked 6-poimder, from which another discharge of 'leaden slugs' aided 
by other volleys of musketry, was directed against them, and cleared 
the 'fatal ditch' a second time. It was in vain to contend further; and 
the British retired, with as many of their wounded as they could carry 
away. 

"Lieut. Col. Warburton's party, having a circuit to make, did not 



80 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

arrive at its position till the first assault was nearly over. After a 
volley or two, in which the British sustained some slight loss, the troops 
at this point also were ordered to retire. The loss amounted to 26 
killed, 29 wounded and missing, and 41 wounded (most of them slightly) 
and brought away; total 96. The Americans state their loss at one 
killed and seven wounded. Considering the way in which they were 
sheltered, and the circumstances of the attack altogether, no greater 
loss could have been expected. 

■"The American editors seem determined to drag the Indians, in 
spite of their confirmed and to an American well-known habits, within 
the limits of the 'fatal ditch.' 'The Indians,' says Mr. Thomson, 'were 
enraged and mortified at this unparalleled defeat; and carrying their 
dead and wounded from the field, they indignantly followed the British 
regulars to the shipping.' "It is a fact worthy of obserA'ation' says Mr. 
O'Connor, "that not one Indian was found among the dead, although it 
is known that from three to four hundred were present.' A brave 
enemy would have found something to praise in the efforts of Colonel 
Shortt and his men, in this their 'unparalleled defeat;' but all is forgotten 
in the lavish encomiums bestowed upon Major Croghan and the band 
of 'heroes,' who "compelled an army,' says an American editor, 'much 
more than 10 times superior,' to relinquish the attack." 

LAST SURVIVOR OF FORT STEPIIKNSON. 

A group of (listiugtiished visitors entering unannounced the 
Bltie Room at the White House, during the administration of 
President Hayes, were surprised to find the hcautiful mistress 
of the house sitting on the floor, needle and thread in hand, 
while' before her half reclining on the central divan, sat an old 
soldier in the uniform of an ordnance sergeant of the United 
States Army. 

The callers, who were Sir l-'dward Thornton, the British 
Minister, with some English friends, were about to retire, U'hen 
Mrs. Hayes looked up from her work, saw them, and laughingly 
called them to stay. She rose from the floor, shook hands warmly 
with the old man, and parrying his thanks and assuring him that 
his uniform was now perfect, handed him over to the care of 
her son. 

The story is one of her inany kindly, self-unconscious acts. 
One of her sons, visiting the Barnes Hospital at the Soldiers' 
home near \\'ashington, had examined tlie list of soldiers living 
there and discovered that one was a veteran of lH)rt Stephenson, 



The Croi^lian Celebration. 



81 



at ]^>enKnit, ( )lii(), the home of the J hiyes faniih-, named William 
Gaines, late ordnance serg'eant United States Army. 

Subsequentl\' Sergeant Gaines was granted a pension for his 
service in the War of 1812 and also for the Mexican War, and 
a complete full dress uniform, was ordered sent to the White 
House for him. Sergeant Gaines was brought in from the Sol- 
diers' Home to don his uniform and have his photograph taken 
in it. After putting on his uniform, the old soldier trembling 
with excitement and weakness discovered that the sergeant's 
stripes for the seam of his trousers had been sent 
loose to be used at the wearer's discretion, and 
he was greatly distressed at the thought of hav- 
ing his photograph taken without this insignia 
of rank. Mrs. Hayes, who had come down to 
greet him in the Blue Room, learning the cause 
of his distress, at once sent for needle and thread, 
saying that she would herself stitch them on. She 
was just finishing the task, sitting on the floor 
with the old soldier standing before her, when 
the British Minister and his guests entered, and 
caught the charming picture to carry away to 
their English home. 

It was a notable battle when, under [Major 
George Croghan, a youth of twenty-one years, 
one hundred and sixty men, having but a single 
small cannon, defeated five hundred British sol- 
diers and two thousand or more Indian allies; 
this battle being the prelude to Perry's victory on 
Lake Erie and the decisive Battle of the Thames. 

At the request of the members of the Hayes family, Repre- 
sentative William McKinley introduced a bill to place William 
Gaines,- late ordnance sergeant, U. S. Army, on the retired list 
of the army with seventy-five per cent, of the full pay and 
allowance of an ordnance sergeant ; he having served faithfully 
and honorably in the army of the United States for more than 
fifty-one years, having been an ordnance sergeant for over thirtv- 
three consecutive years of said service, and having participated 
Vol. XVI— 6. 




SERGEANT 
GAINES. 



82 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

in the siege of Fort Meigs, the defense of Fort Stephenson, and 
the Battle of the Thames in the War of 1812. 

Gen. Anson G. AlcCook secured the passage of the bill 
through the House of Representatives and Gen. A. E. Burnside 
secured concurrent action by the Senate, and the Act was ap- 
proved I)y Presiilcnt Hayes. 

Sergeant Gaines' story as told by himself in an interview 
with Mr. Webb C Hayes at Washington in 1879, is as follows: 

"My name is William Gaines. I was born in Frederick City, Md., 
Christmas Day, 1799. My father and mother were both born in Virginia. 
My father and General Gaines were cousins. My father had died and my 
mother was not in very good circumstances. We started from Frederick 
City, and when we reached Washington stopped for five or six hours 
and called on President Madison. Our folks came from Montpelier, Va., 
President Madison's home, and my uncle and President Madison were 
well acquainted. I had another uncle in Kentucky named Daveiss. They 
both lived in Lexington. During the Indian war in 1811, my uncle, 
Colonel Daveiss, raised a volunteer regiment and joined General Harrison. 
He took me along with him to take care of his horses and that is the 
way that I came to be in the battle of Tippecanoe, November 5, 1811. 

"I occupied a tent with the Orderly Sergeant of the company. His 
tent was next to that of my uncle. Colonel Daveiss, and then came the 
company tent. We were surprised by the Indians, who got in the camp 
before we were aware of it. Some rushed into our tent, but we crawled 
out on the opposite side. Before getting out, however, the thumb of my 
left hand was cut by an Indian tomahawk or knife and laid wide open. 
It was sewed up by Dr. Woodward. The Indians were defeated, but my 
imcle, Colonel Daveiss, was killed. 

"I c-nlisted on July 18, 1812, as a drummer boy in Captain Arm- 
strong's company of the Twenty-fourth Infantry. I was then in my 
thirteenth year. We marched from Knoxville to Nashville, and then 
against the Creek nation. We marched from Nashville down the Cumber- 
land river to the Ohio, which was full of ice and impassable, and were 
obliged to stop at a small French fort called Fort Massack, which was 
occupied by one company, about forty men of the Second Artillery under 
Lieutenant Tanner. We remained there until next spring and then started 
for Fort Meigs. We marched first to Newport, Ky., which took us, I 
think, twenty days, but we made a stop at Harrisonburg, where we were 
invited to the farm of Col. George Harrison and had everything we 
wanted. We stopped at Newport three days washing and cleaning our- 
selves and then crossed to Cincinnati. From Cincinnati we marched 
due north through the state of Ohio until we came to Franklinton, which 
was the extreme frontier. At Franklinton two deserters were tried and 



The Crog/ian Celebration. 83 

shot. They came from camp Meigs, where they had mutinied and came 
near killing the captain. They were taken by some citizens between 
Upper Sandusky and Franklinton. General Harrison ordered a general 
court martial and charges were sent from Fort Meigs. Both were sen- 
tenced to be shot and both were shot the next day. They were buried 
on the banks of the Little Sciota. 

"We then marched due north to Upper Sandusky. At Upper San- 
dusky we drew two days' rations to carry us through the Maumee Black 
Swamp. We then marched due north until we reached a point about five 
or six miles from Fort Stephenson, and then turning west the road ran 
through the Maumee Valley Black Swamp on to Fort Meigs, which we 
reached the next day. Gen. Green Clay was in command. While we were 
at Fort Meigs, Gen. Harrison established his headquarters at Fort Seneca, 
so that he might be handy for the different departments. We were at 
Fort Meigs something like a month, and during a portion of the time 
were besieged by Indians and British, and kept up a constant fire on 
them for about eight days. 

"Our company was then ordered to Camp Seneca, in July I think, 
and while there a rumor came that Fort Stephenson was to be attacked. 
A detail was made from the different companies to relieve Fort Stephen- 
son, and that was done that each company should have equal chance in 
the glory. All this time I was a private in Captain Armstrong's com- 
pany, Twenty-fourth Infantry, having exchanged my drum for a musket, 
and was acting as cook for Lieutenant Joseph Anthony of my company. 
Lieutenant Anthony, Samuel Thurman, John Foster, James Riggs, a man 
named Jones and myself composed the detail from my company. We 
started at the break of day, and got to Fort Stephenson between nine 
and ten o'clock. We had not been there more than an hour and a half 
or two hours before the British hove in sight and began landing their 
troops, cannon, etc. Between 11 and 12 o'clock there came a flag of 
truce and an officer and six men; they were blindfolded and taken in at 
the west gate. It was rumored that the officer was sent to demand the 
surrender of the fort or to show no quarter. When they were gone 
Major Croghaii told us to prepare ourselves, as no quarter was to be 
shown. They came around on the northwest side which was covered 
with woods, about 150 yards distant, and between the woods and fort 
was a ravine down which they would haul the cannon to load and then 
push up on the brow of the hill and fire. They could not approach from 
the east side because that was an open field, and we could have brought 
them down. To the north and south it was ' also quite open. The 
weather was good but warm, and a storm which had threatened finally 
disappeared. They fired on us for a time, but Major Croghan would 
not let us return it. Samuel Thurman was in the block house and de- 
termined to shoot a red coat. He climbed up on top of the block house 
and peered over, when a six-pound ball from the enemy's cannon took his 
head off. Finally toward evening they made a charge, and when they got 



84 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society J'nblicatioiis. 

on level ground we got orders to fire. We shot through loop holes in 
the pickets and port holes in tlie blockhouses. 1 recollect very well 
when Colonel Shortt fell. I see it all now as distinctly as I see you two 
gentlemen. Our cannon was loaded with six-pound ball and grape. I 
was in the blockhouse and after Col. Short fell he held up a white 
handkerchief lor quarter. Somebody in the blockhouse said, 'That man 
is hollering for quarter. He said he would show none. Now give him 
quarter.' It passed all through the fort. Then the bugle sounded the 
retreat. They had old Tecumseh and about 1,500 Indians, and I think 
about 700 or 800 regulars. I only estimated them by seeing them march- 
ing away. , 

There were no buildings near the fort, nor any women in the fort, 
as there was not settlement nearer than Franklinton. They landed below 
us, near the race track, opposite the Island. The British wounded who 
were not taken away lay in the ditch. I do not know anything about the 
passing of water over to the wounded. It might have been done unbe- 
known to me. The British soldiers were buried the next day. I do not 
know how many were killed. You see they took them away at night and 
we did not know anything about it. 

"At the siege of Fort Meigs there was a large tree into which an In- 
dian climbed and thus obtained a view of the interior of the fort. A 
man named Bronson brought him down with a rifle. I do not think it 
can be true that we loaded our cannon with nails and scraps on ac- 
count of lack of ammunition. I have often thought that if General Har- 
rison had marched his troops from Fort Seneca down the east side of 
the Sandusky river and crossed, it would have brought him between the 
enemy and their boats, and thus we could have captured them all. I 
have often thought of it and talked it over with men of our company. 
When the firing commenced, Lieut. Anthony was panicstruck and secreted 
himself, and did not come out until the battle was over. He was put 
under arrest by Major Croghan and sent to Fort Seneca and court- 
martialed for cowardice and cashiered the service. Gen. Harrison was 
a small and very slim man, a little on the dark complected order, and 
advanced in years. Major Croghan was a very thin man and stood about 
five feet eight or nine inches. He was tall and slim. He became very 
corpulent and fleshy some years after. I remember well when Colonel 
Croghan was placed in arrest. He had an order from Gen. Harrison to 
destroy all public property that he could not bring away and retreat. 
When he got the order it was too late to retreat. He was tried and ac- 
quitted. He was a very courageous man, afraid of nothing under the 
sun. After the battle of Fort Stephenson we were returned to our com- 
panies again. Every company got their own men but ours, which had 
one killed, Samuel Thurman, who was the only man killed on our side. 
We lay at Camp Seneca until the news came from Commodore Perry 
that "we have met the enemy and they are ours." We then marched 
past Fort Stephenson to the lake, where we were furnished with boats 



The Cro^^luDi Celebration. 



85 



ami crossed over into Canada. We landed about one mile below Colonel 
Elliott's quarters. I nuist tell you a little story about this. I took six 
beautiful silver spoons from that man's house. Everybody had left and 
I was hard up. The house was furnished in the English fashion. I sold 
them at Detroit. We did not get paid in those days like we do now. We 
often went eighteen months without pay. From Elliott's we went to 
Fort Maiden. They had evacuated and taken all they could get from there, 
and then we went up to Sand Beach. Colonel Johnson followed with more 
men, and wi' all followed the British troojis until they got to Moravian 
Town. On the id of October we fought the battle of the Thames. I recol- 
lect that day just as well as I do sitting in this chair. It was their last 
battle. We made short work of the British. They knew we were com- 




SCKNE IN CROGHAN I\\RADE. 



ing and General Proctor and an aide fled before we were within a mile 
of them. We captured all of them but these two. We had more fighting 
with the Indians than with the British Regulars. The Indians retreated 
across the river in canoes, but many of them were shot and tumbled over 
in the water. We marched to Detroit, where we embarked in Com- 
modore Perry's fleet. General Harrison and my company were on the same 
boat with Commodore Perry, and also a British Commodore and other 
British officers who were prisoners. We sailed to Buffalo, and then 
marched to Sackett's Harbor, where we joined General Wilkinson's com- 
mand that was to attack Montreal. We took open boats and started across, 
but owing to the ice we had to abandon the expedition and return to the 
shore, from where we marched to a place called Chateaugay Four Cor- 
ners, on a little lake, and wintered there. The next spring the captain. 



86 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

one officer and myself went to New York on recruiting service. That 
was in 1814. I remained in New Yorlc about two years. When we left 
New York we marched with recruits to fill up the companies stationed 
on the northern frontier. I had re-enlisted on the 23d of November, 
1816, for five years. We marched to Sackett's Harbor, and I was there 
assigned to Company D, Second Infantry. The other recruits were dis- 
tributed at the different stations. I was stationed at Sackett's Harbor 
something like seventeen years. We remained quietly at barracks all 
this time, until the Black Hawk War broke out beyond Chicago. We 
started in the month of July, 1832, and got l)ack October 6, of the same 
year. We had no battles in that campaign. There was nothing but hard 
marching, etc. I was appointed an ordinance sergeant of the U. S. army 
October 18, 1833, and was ordered to Boston, but finally exchanged with 
the ordnance sergeant at Madison barracks. Colonel Kirby, paymaster, 
and othei»s arranged the matter for me. During the Florida War I was 
in Sackett's Harbor in charge of all the property at that post. I was 
there too during the Mexican War and got an order from General ' 
Augur to enlist all the men that I could and send them to Syracuse. I 
got from four to six every day, and sent them to Syracuse for Mexico. 
I was a recruiting officer for General Augur. During the war of the Re- 
bellion I was left alone in charge of the quartermaster's stores, medical 
and other property at Madison Barracks, New York. I was discharged 
December 31, 186G, by Secretary Stanton and came to this home. I have 
had charge of a great many improvements in the home and was lodge 
keeper at the Whitney Avenue gate- for a number of years." 

Sero^eant Gaines was at the time of this interviev*- an active 
old man ahout five feet seven inches in height, of dark complex- 
ion. He liad bright grey eyes, white Iiair and strongly marked 
features. He stood perfectly erect, and had a very soldierly bear- 
ing. His mind was clear and his memory quite remarkable. He 
described witli great detail tlie incident of his early service. He 
was the last survivor of the gallant defenders of Fort Steplienson. 
He enlisted w lien in bis thirtieth year and proba])ly nu man served 
longer in the L'nited States Armv than he. 

KF.UnP.N CLEMENT. 

Tn i88o there still lived in I'etersburg, \ a., a ^urxivor i>f the 
War of i8i2, one of the Petersburg XOInnteers, one member of 
which. P>rown, fought at Fort Stephenson. A letter from this 
aged man, .Mr. Reuben Clements, reads: 



TJic Croglian Celebration. 87 

"Petersburg, Va., 4th March, 1880. 
Colonel: 

According to promise 1 will now attempt to tell you what little I 
know about Croghan and Sandusky. The opening of the spring cam- 
paign in 1813 found the garrison of Fort Meigs exceedingly weak. 
General Harrison having gone in the states to hasten forward rein- 
forcements, leaving General Clay in command. The British and In- 
dians in considerable numbers, knowing perhaps of the absence of the 
General-in-Chief, and our weakness, as also our expecting succor from 
Kentucky, surrounded the fort and engaged in a sham battle, hoping 
by this ruse to draw us out. Failing in this they left us, taking the 
Military Road in the direction of Fort Stephenson, which was said to 
have been forty miles in length, and fell upon Major Croghan and 
his little band at Sandusky. The fort at this place was quite small, 
covering I should say not more than one English acre of ground. In 
form it was quadrilateral, without traverses, but having in front of 
curtain on its four sides a broad and deep fosse. At the north-east 
angle of the fort was a blockhouse, and just here was mounted the 
only cannon (a six pounder) which made such havoc with the red coats 
occupying the ditch. My iinpression is that my old comrade Brown 
was the only member of mj' company present on that occasion ; and 
that he did not (as has been asserted) command the piece but only 
assisted in working it. The captain of the gun was a sergeant either 
of the Pittsburg Blues, or Greensburg Blues. However Brown was ter- 
ribly burned about the face which disfigured him for life. I forgot to 
state that the Fort was short of ammunition of all sorts, having only three 
rounds in all for the cannon. You ask if I knew Major Croghan. I an- 
swer, Yes, I have seen him oftentimes before and after the glorious fight 
at Sandusky. He was a beardless stripling ; I should say rather below 
the medium size, and did not look more than eighteen years of age. 
This is about all I know of Croghan and Sandusky. I might add. though 
not exactly pertinent, that our Company was quite largely represented 
on the decks of Commodore Perry's ships, when he so gloriously fought 
and overcame the British Fleet on Lake Erie. 

With great respect, 

Your obedient servant. 

Reuben Clements. 

THE FIRST PERMANENT WHITE SETTLERS IN OHIO, JAMES WHIT- 
AKER AND ELIZABETH FOULKE. 

The first permanent white settlers in Ohio were James 
Whitaker and Elizabeth Foulks. who were capttired in western 
Pennsylvania in 1774 and 1776 respectively, by the Wyandot 
Indians, by whom they were adopted and taken to Lower San- 



88 



Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 



duskv, now l-'rciiK'nl, ( )lii(), where thev were brought together 
as adopted members "of the \\ yandot tribe. They were married 
in Detroit, in 1781, and returned to a tract of land which had 
been given to them ])y the Wyandots on the Sandusky River, 
three miles l)elow the lower rapids kncjwn as Lower Sandusky. 
Here they lived and raised a family of eight children. Two 
of their grandchildren and several great grandchildren are resi- 
dents of Fremont and vicinity. 

janies \Vhitaker, who became an Indian trader, died of 
poison, it is said, in 1804. at Upper Sanduskv, where he had a 
store ; but his remains were brought to his home established in 
1781, where he was buried on the tract originally given him as 
a wedding gift by the Indians, which tract, containing 1280 
acres, was set aside to his widow by the treaty made at Fort 
Industry September 29, 1817. His tombstone was brought from 
the old Whitaker farm and placed in Birchard Library, just one 
hundred }ears after its erection over his grave. It bears the 
following inscription : 





IN MEMORY OF 




J. 


\M1-:.S 


\\llITE.\CRE 






WHO DIED 






Dec. 


17, 1804 




In tlu 


48th 


\ear of his 


age. 



The tombstone of his dauglitcr. .\lar\ Whitaker Shannon, 
was also brought from the Whitaker family burying-ground to 
Birchard Library. Its inscrij^tion records her death as occur- 
ring August 15, 1827, in the 30th year of her age, which ])laces 
her Ijirtli in I7<;i. She was the I'ourlh child of James Whitaker. 

The lion, llomcr l^verett, who came to Fremont in 1815, 
and was the recognize<l authority and historian of Sandusky 
county, relates in his liistorx of Sandusky County an interview 
with Mrs. Rachel Scranton. the se\enth child of James Whitaker, 
as follows : 



The Croghan Celebration. 89 

"About the year 1780 two brothers, Quill and Jruncs Whitaker, in 
company with another young man, left Fort Pitt one morning on a 
hunting expedition. They wandered a considerable distance from the 
fort, intent upon securing game with which to gratify their friends, but 
at an unexpected moment a volley of rifle balls rattled among the trees. 
One took mortal eflfect jn the body of the young man, another passed 
through the hat of Quill Whitaker, who saved himself by flight; a third 
ball shattered the arm of James, the younger brother, and in a few minutes 
he was the prisoner of a band of painted Wyandot warriors. After several 
days' hard traveling, the Indians with their captive reached a village 
within the present boundaries of Richland County, Ohio. Here the lines 
were formed and Whitaker's bravery and activity tested on the gauntlet 
course. The boy, wounded as he was, deported himself with true heroistn. 
The first half of the course was passed without a single scratch, but as he 
was speeding on toward the painted goal an old squaw who cherished a 
feelmg of deep revenge, mortified by the captive's successful progress, 
sprang forward and caught his arm near the shoulder, hoping to detain 
him long enough for the weapon of the next savage to take effect. The 
prisoner instantly halted and with a violent kick sent the vicious squaw 
and the next Indian tumbling from the lines. His bold gallantry received 
wild shouts of applause along the line. Attention being thus diverted, he 
sprang forward with quickened speed and reached the post without ma- 
terial injury. Not satisfied that this favorite amusement should be so 
quickly ended, it was decided that the prisoner should run again. The 
lines for the second trial were already formed, when an elderly and dig- 
nified squaw walked, forward and took from her own shoulders a blanket 
Avhich she cast over the panting young prisoner, saying, 'This, is my son. 
He is one of us. You must not kill him.' Thus adopted, he was treated 
with all that kindness and affection which the savage heart is capable 
of cherishing." 

Miss Helen Scranton, daughter of Mr. Everett's informant 
above, relates that her grandfather, James Whitaker, was born 
in London. England, in 1756, and brought to New York when 
twelve vears of age by his uncle, John Whitaker. who was a 
trader and the captain of his own ship. The boy wandered 
away from his uncle's ship while in New York and was later 
reported as having been captured by the Indians. 

The first documentary evidence we have of James Whitaker 
is found in his signature to a proclamation issued by Henry 
Hamilton, the British Lieutenant Governor at Detroit. This 
notorious scalp-hunter three months later welcomed the rene- 
gades Girty, Elliott and McKee, and sent them forth to lead the 



1>0 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

savages against American settlers on the borders of Pennsyl- 
vania and X'irginia. The proclamation reads : 

"Detroit, January 5th, 1778. 

■■Notwithstanding all endeavors to apprize his inajesty's faithful and 
loyal subjects, dispersed over the colonies of his gracious intentions to- 
wards them, signified to them at dii^erent times, it is to be feared the 
mistaken zeal of the deluded multitude, acted upon by the artful and 
wicked designs of rebellious counsellors has prevented many froin profit- 
ing of his majesty's clemency. This is to acquaint all whom it may con- 
cern, that nothing can give greater satisfaction to those persons who com- 
mand for his majesty at the different posts, than to save from ruin those 
innocent people who are unhappily involved in distresses they have in no 
ways merited. The moderation shown by the Indians who have gone to 
war from this place, is a speaking proof of the truth ; and the injunc- 
tions constantly laid upon them on their setting out, having been to 
spare the defenceless and aged of both sexes, show that compassion for 
the unhappy is blended with the severity necessary to be exercised in the 
obstinate and perverse enemies of his majesty's crown and dignity. 

"The persons undernamed are living witnesses of the moderation and' 
even gentleness of savages shown to them, their wives and children ; 
which may, it is hoped, induce others to exchange the hardships experi- 
enced under their present inasters, for security and freedom under their 
lawful sovereign. 

"The bearer hereof, Edward Hazle, has my orders to make known 
to all persons whom it inay concern, that the Indian? are encouraged to 
show the same mildness to all who shall embrace the offer of safety and 
protection, hereby held out to them ; and he is further to make known, 
as far as lies in his power, that if a number of people can agree upon 
a place of rendezvous, and a proper time for coming to this post, the 
Miamis, Sandusky or post Vincennes, the properest methods will be taken 
for their security, and a safe guard of white people, with an officer and 
interpreter sent to conduct them. 

"Given imder my hand and seal in Detroit. 

"Signed, Henry Hamilton! Seal], Lieutenant Governor and Super- 
intendent. 

"God save the King." 

"We who have undersigned our names, do vohmtarily declare that 
we have been conducted from the several places mentioned opposite our 
names to Detroit by Indians accompanied with white people ; that we 
have neither been cruelly treated nor in any way ill used by them; and 
further that on our arrival we have been treated with the greatest hu- 
manity and our wants supplied in the best manner possible. 

"George Baker, for himself, wife and five children — now here from 
five miles below Logstown. 



The Croghan Celebration. 91 

"James Butterworth from Big Kenawha. 
"Thomas X Shocrs, from Harrodstown, Kentucky, 
his mark. 

"Jacob Pugh, from six miles below the fort at Wheeling. 
"Jonathan Muchmorc, from Ft. Pitt. 
"James Whitakcr, from Detroit, taken at Fish Creek. 
"John X Bridges, from Detroit, taken at Fish Creek. 

his mark. 

After Whitaker's marriage and return to Lower Sandusky, 
he became an influential W3-andot chief and follower of Tarhe, 
the Crane, the famous Indian chieftain whose home was at 
Lower Sandusky. Charles Johnson, states in his Narrative that 
Whitaker fought with the Wyandots under Crane in the defeat 
of St. Clair in 1791, and again in the Battle of Fallen Timbers 
in 1794, when Wayne defeated the Indians so decisively and 
brought permanent peace to the frontier. 

James Whitaker died in 1804, but the Wyandots of Lower 
Sandusky, under Tarhe, fought on the American side in the War 
of 1 81 2. Although compelled through self-interest and the cir- 
cttmstances of his location to fight the battles of his adopted Indian 
brothers, there are many notable instances of his kindness to 
white prisoners, and his constant efforts to alleviate their suflfer- 
ings whenever possible. A number of instances are cited later. 

Mr. Everett's narrative, cited above, continues : 

"About two years after tlie capture of Whitaker, another party of 
warriors made an incursion into Pennsylvania and captured at Cross 
Roads, Elizabeth Foulks, a girl eleven years old, whom they carried into 
captivity and adopted into a family of the tribe. Both captives lived con- 
tentedly and happily, having adopted the manners and customs of their 
hosts. 

"A few years after — probably here on the Sandusky river, at a 
general council of their tribe, these two adopted children of the forest 
made each other's acquaintance. A marriage according to the customs 
of civilized life was at once arranged and the couple, ardent in their love 
and happy in their expectations, set oflf for Detroit, where the Christian 
ritual was pronounced which made them man and wife. 

"The Indians seemed well pleased by this conduct of their pale- 
faced children. They gave them a choice tract of farming land in the 
river bottom. Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker reared a large family for whose 
education they expended considerable sums of money. 

"Mr. Whitaker entered into mercantile business, for which he was 



:92 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

well fitted. He established a store at his residence, one at Tymochtee 
and one at Upper Sandusky. He accumulated wealth rapidly, having at 
the time of his death his goods all paid for and 2,000 pounds on deposit 
with the Canada house where he made his purchases. At Upper San- 
dusky he had a partner, Hugh Patterson, with whom in the year 1804 
he drank a glass of wine and died a short time afterwards, his death 
being attributed to poison in the wine. Mrs. Whitaker, to whom a reser- 
vation was granted in the treaty of 1817, survived her husband many 
years." 

Miss Helen Scfanton stales that her grandmother, Elizabeth 
Foulks, was taken prisoner by the Wyandots during the first 
year of the War of the Revoltition, 1776, when eleven years old, 
at Beaver Creek. Pa. The children of the neighborhood were 
making sugar when they were attacked by the Indians, her 
brother John Foulks was tomahawked and killed, and her brother 
George, who was several years older than Elizabeth, was taken 
prisoner with her. Both were carried through to the vicinity 
of Detroit. She remained with the Indians at Detroit, being 
very kindly treated by them, until she was married to James 
Whitaker, also a prisoner at Detroit, some five years and three 
months after her capture, namely in 1781 or 1782. She was 
adopted by the Wyandots. but in common with the white pris- 
oners, including- her brother George, she was freed a short time 
before her marriage. George Foulks returned at once to Beaver 
Creek, Pa., where he married, leaving at least ten children. 
Elizabeth was married to James Whitaker according to rites of 
civilized life, but whether liy a civil or a religious ceremony is 
not known. In 1782. very soon after their marriage, Whitaker 
and his wife left Detroit and returned to the banks of the San- 
dusky River, where they built a log cabin three miles below 
Lower Sandusky, now Fremont. A few years after settling on 
the Sandusky, Whitaker traded his furs and Indian supplies 
for lumber from Canada, and after rafting it up the Sandusky 
River built a large frame, two-story house, also a warehouse 
and store building. When her first child, Nancy, was nine or 
ten months old, Mrs. Whitaker started on her first trip home 
to Beaver Creek, carrying her baby on her horse in front of 
her and being accompanied by two Wyandot squaws. She was 
the mother of eight rliildren. from her marriage in 1782 until 



77/r Croi^lKiii Celebration. 



9S 



the death of her husl)an(l in 1804. at L'])i)er Saiulusky. She 
made several trijis to her old Ikhik' in T.eaver Creek, j^'oing for 
the last time in 1S23 to attend a tanuly reunion at the home of her 
sister. An incident of that occasion is that her sister sat at the 
table with twenty-two of her own children, two others having 
died. Of the twenty-two, a qnartet of boys, born at one birth, 
were dressed in suits of handsome green cloth presented to them 
by President Monroe. Mrs Whitaker died suddenly in 1833, 




CASKET CONTAINING REMAINS OF MAJOR CROC.IIAX IN STATE IN 

CITY HALL. 

while on a visit to Upper Sandusky, where her husband also had 
died nearlv thirty years before. She was buried at Upper San- 
dusky, although her husband's body had been taken back to Lower 
Sandusky. Her will, dated February 13, 1833, was admitted to 
probate in this county September 13, 1833, in which are mentioned 
the names of several of her children, including Isaac and James, 
the latter being her executor. Tn her will among other things 



S4 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

menlioned as her property was "a chest containing- valuable arti- 
cles." From the inventory of her estate as recorded in the office 
of the probate judge the following articles of silver were found 
in a chest : Silver castor, cruets, tablespoons, sugar tongs, Indian 
armband and shoe buckles. 

The children of James Whitaker and Elizabeth Foulks 
Whitaker were all born on what was afterward called the 
Whitaker Reservation, a tract of 1280 acres set aside for her 
by the treaty of 1817, which reads: 

"To Elizabeth Whitaker, who was taken prisoner by the Wyandots 
and has ever since lived among them, 1280 acres of land, on the west 
side of the Sandusky river, near Croghansville, to be laid ofif in a square 
form, as nearly as the meanders of the said river will admit, and to run 
an equal distance above and below the house in which the said Elizabeth 
Whitaker now lives." 

A deed was made to her by the Government in 1822 for 
these lands, containing the restriction that she should not con- 
vey them to others without permission from the President 'of 
the United States. This permission she obtained from President 
Monroe and in 1823, for the consideration named in the deed 
of $1200, conveyed the whole tract to her son George Whitaker. 

The names of the children of James and Elizabeth Whitaker 
were: 

Nancy, born in 1782, married William Wilson in 1803. 

Isaac moved to Indiana. 

James moved to Michigan. 

Mar}^ born in 1791. married George Shannon, died in 1827. 

Elizabeth who died during the War of 181 2. 

Charlotte who died in 1824. 

Rachel, born in 1801, who married James A. Scranton in 
1823. 

George, born in 1803, moved to Missouri in February, 1884, 

James Whitaker had a number of trading posts or stores, 
one at his home, one on the Tymochtee and one at Upper San- 
dusky. While visiting the latter he died suddenly, in 1804, stip- 
posedly being poisoned by his partner, Hugh Patterson, a Cana- 
dian from Sandwich, Upper Canada, who owed Mrs. Whitaker 



The Croi^^/uni Celebration. 95 

"$1300 on a judj^iiKiU on which Kichard I'aUcrson was surct}," 
as stated in l'".hzal)i'th W'hitakcr's w iH. 

lames W hitaker did a great deal of his trading at Alontrcal, 
making one or two trips thither a year. On one of these trips 
he took his eldest daughter, Nancy, a young girl, to Montreal, 
where she visited an English family named Wilson. The Wil- 
sons proposed sending one of their daughters to Scotland to be 
educated, and Nancy Whitaker accompanied her and remained 
at Glasgow, Scotland, at school for nearly three years. Shortly 
after Nancy's return to her father's home near Lower Sandusky, 
William Wilson, an English officer and son of the Montreal 
Wilsons, came to visit the Whitakers, and on a second visit some 
months later he was married to Nancy at the Whitaker home, 
when she was between seventeen and eighteen vears of age. 

William Wilson, the British officer, and his wife Nancy lived 
with the Whitakers, where they had many English officers as 
visitors. Two girls and a boy were born to them before the 
death of Nancy Whitaker Wilson, which occurred shortlv before 
the death of her father, James Whitaker, in 1804. The British 
officer, Wilson, was recalled to England in 1810 or 181 1 to 
assume the position of Captain in his regiment, and left his 
three children with their grandmother, Elizabeth Whitaker, who 
had charge of them until after the close of the war between 
Great Britain and America, as well as of her own seven children. 

One of her children, Mary, married George Shannon. She 
died in 1827, leaving five sons and one daughter; two sons, 
James and John, lived and died here, leaving large families who 
are prosperous people. Rachel Whitaker Scranton died Octo- 
ber 7, 1862, eleven years after the death of her husband, James 
A. Scranton, who died while Sergeant-at-Arms of the Ohio State 
Senate, in 185 1. They had ten children, of whom two survive: 
James A. Scranton, a farmer near Fremont, and Mrs. Hannah 
Scranton-Stoner, a widow'. 

Charles Johnston of Botetourt County, Virginia, while engaged in 
securing depositions of witnesses in litigations in relation to lands in 
Kentucky, left his home in 1789 and repaired to what is now Point 
Pleasant on the Ohio river, While passing down the river with Mr. 
May, Mr. Skyles, William Flinn and Pegg>' and Dolly Fleming, one of 



96 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

whom was a particular friend of Flinn who with the young women 
were residents of Pittsburg, the party was hailed by two white men who 
implored to be taken on board and rescued from the Indians by whom 
they had been captured. These white men were simply used as a decoy, 
and when the boat containing Johnston and his companions approached 
the shore they were fired on by a body of 54 Indians, killing Dolly 
Fleming- and Mr. May, and capturing Skyles, Flinn, Peggy Fleming and 
Charles Johnston. The date was March 20, 1789. The prisoners were 
separated and later Flinn was burned at the stake on the Sandusky 
river, Skyles was condemned to a similar fate on the Miami of the 
Lakes, but providentially escaped to Detroit. In 1827, Johnston, then a 
prominent citizen of his native state, printed a "Narrative of the Inci- 
dents attending the Capture, Detention and Ransom of Charles Johnston." 
The following extracts relate to his fellow captive, Peggj' Fleming, and 
to his experiences at Lower Sandusky. When he reached Upper San- 
dusky, he met a Canadian trader, named Francis Duchouquet, who suc- 
ceeded after many efforts in purchasing Johnston from the Indians for 
600 silver broaches. "This event" says Johnston, "to me the most im- 
portant of my life, by a singular coincidence occurred on the 28th of 
April, in the year 1790. the day on which I attained the age of 21 years." 

"The small band of Cherokees, three in number, to whom Peggy 
Fleming had been allotted in the distribution made of the prisoners on 
the Ohio, brought her to Upper Sandusky while I was there. She was 
no longer that cheerful, lively creature such as when separated from 
us. Her spirits were sunk, her gayety had fled; and instead of that 
vivacity and sprightliness which formerly danced upon her countenance 
slie now wore the undissembled aspect of melancholy and wretchedness. 
I endeavored to ascertain the cause of this extraordinary change, but 
she answered my inquiries only with her tears; leaving my mind to its 
own inferences. Her stay with us was only for a few hours, during 
which time I could not extract a word from her, except occasionally 
the monosyllables yes and no. Gloom and despondency had taken entire 
possession of her breast; and nothing could lie more touching than her 
appearance. Her emaciated frame and dejected countenance, presented 
a picture of sorrow and of sadness which would have melted the stoutest 
heart, and such was its eflfect upon me that I could not abstain from 
mingling my tears with hers. With these feelings we parted. When we 
met again it was under far different and more auspicious circumstances, 
as will hereafter be seen. 

"Mr. Duchouquet sold his goods and collected his peltry at Upper 
Sandus|<y. The season had arrived for transporting his purchases to De- 
troit ; and with a light heart I began the journey to that post in his 
party. The Sandusky river is not navigable from the upper town ; and 
Mr. Duchouquet's peltry was carried on pack horses to Lower Sandusky; 
whence there is a good navigation to Detroit. When we reached Lower 
Sandusky, a groat degree of consternation jirt'x .lilcd there, jiroduced by 



TJic Croghan Celebration. 97 

the incidents of the preceding day, and of ilic morning then recently 
past. The three Cherokees, who had possession of Peggy Fleming, had 
conducted her to a place where they encamped, within a quarter of a 
mile's distance from the town. It was immediately rumored that they 
were there, with a wliiic female captive. The traders residing in the 
town instantly determined to visit the camp of the Cherokees and to 
see her. Among them was a man whose name was Whitaker, and who 
like the one that I had met at Upper Sandusky had been carried into 
captivity from the white settlements by the Wyandots in his early life. 
He was not so entirely savage as the first ; could speak our language 
better: and though naturalized by his captors retained some predilection 
for the whiles. The inllueiiCe which he had acquired with his tribe was 
such that they had promoted him to the rank of chief; and his standing- 
with tlieni was high. His business had led him frequently to Pittsburg 
where the father of Peggy Fleming then kept a tavern in which Whit- 
aker had been accustomed to lodge and board. As soon as he appeared 
with the other traders at the camp of the Cherokees, he was recognized 
by the daughter of his old landlord, and she addressed him by his name, 
earnestly supplicating his efforts to emancipate her from the grasp of 
her savage proprietors. Without hesitation he acceded tO' her recpiest. 
He did not make an application to the Cherokees but returned to the 
town and informed the principal chief, distinguished by the appellation 
of King Crane, that the white female captive was his sister; a misrepre- 
sentation greatly palliated by the benevolent motive which dictated it. 

"He had no difificulty in obtaining from the King a promise to pro- 
cure her release. Crane went immediately to the camp of the Cherokees; 
informed them that their prisoner was the sister of a friend of his. and 
desired as a favor that they would make a present to him of Peggy 
Fleming, whom he wished to restore to her brother. They rejected his. 
request. He then proposed to purchase her ; this they also refused with 
bitterness telling him that he was no better than the white people and 
that he was as mean as the dirt; terins of the grossest reproach in their 
use of them. At this insult Crane became exasperated. He went back 
to the town; told Whitaker what had been his reception and declared! 
his intention to take Peggy Fleming from the Cherokees by force. But 
fearing such an act might be productive of war between his nation and' 
theirs, he urged Whitaker to raise the necessary sum in value for her 
redemption. Whitaker, with the assistance of the other traders at the 
town, immediately made tip the requisite amount in silver broaches. 
This was not accomplished until it was too late to effect their object 
on that evening. Early ne.xt morning. King Crane, attended by eight 
or ten young warriors, marched out to the camp of the Cherokees, where 
he found them asleep, while their forlorn captive was securely fastened,. 
in a state of utter nakedness, to a stake, and her body painted black;. 
an indication always decisive that death is the doom of the prisoner. 
Vol. XVI— 7. 



^8 



Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society I'liblications. 



Crane, with his scalping knife, cut the cords by which she was bound; 
delivered her the clothes of which she had been divested by the rude 
hands of the unfeeling Cherokees; ard after she was dressed, awakened 
them, lie lold them in peremptory language' tint th? captive was his, 
and that he had brought with him the value of her ransom. Then 
throwing down the silver broaches on the ground, he bore ofif the terri- 
fied girl to the town, and delivered her to Whitaker ; who after a few 
days sent her, disguised by her dress and paint as a squaw, to Pitts- 
burg, under the care of two trusty Wyandots. I never learnt whether 
she reached her home or not; but as the Indians are remarkable for 
their fidelity to their undertakings, I presurne she was faithfully con- 
ducted to her place of destination. 

"The Cherokees were so incensed by the loss of their ca])tive. that 




FREMONT (LOWER SANDUSKY) 1846. 



they entered the Wyandot town of Lower Sandusky, declaring they would 
be revenged by taking the life of some white person. This was the 
cause of the alarm, which was spread among the traders at the time 
of our arrival, and in which our party necessarily participated; as it was 
indispensable that we should remain there several days, for the purpose 
of unpacking Mr. Duchouquel's peltry from the horses, and placing it 
on board the batteaux in which it was to be conveyed to Detroit. The 
Cherokees painted themselves, as they and other savages are accustomed 
to do when they are preparing for war or battle. All their ingenuity 
is directed to the object of rendering their aspect as horrible as pos- 
sible, that they may strike their enemies with terror, and indicate by 
external signs the fury which rages within. They walked about the town 
jn great anger, and we deemed it neces.sary to keep a watchful eye upon 



The Croghaii Celebration. 99 

them and lo guard against llieir approach. All the whites, except Whit- 
iiker, who was considered as one of the Wyandots, assembled at night 
in the same house, provided with weapons of defence, and continued 
together until the next morning ; when to our high gratification they 
disappeared and I never heard of them afterwards." 

Mr. Johnston's Narrative continues : 

"At Lower Sandusky we found Mr. Angus Mclntosli, who was 
extensively engaged in the fur trade. This gentleman was at the head 
of the connection to which Mr. Duchouquet belonged, who was his factor 
or partner at Upper Sandusky, as a Mr. Isaac Williams was here. 
Williams was a stout, bony, muscular and fearless man. On one of those 
days which I spent in waiting until we were ready to embark for Detroit, 
a Wyandot Indian, in his own language, which I did not understand 
uttered some expression offensive to Williams. This produced great 
irritation on both sides and a bitter quarrel ensued. Williams took down 
from a shelf of the store in which the incident occurred two scalping 
knives; laid them on the counter; gave the Wyandot choice of them; 
and challenged him to combat with these weapons. Rut the character 
of Williams for strength and courage was so well known, that he would 
not venture on the contest and soon afterward retired. 

"Lower Sandusky was to me distinguished by another circumstance. 
It was the residence of the Indian widow, whose former husband I had 
been destined to succeed, if the Mingo had been permitted to retain and 
dispose of me according to his intentions. I felt an irresistible curiosity 
to have a view of this female, and it was my determination to find her 
dwelling, and see her there, if no other opportunity should occur. She 
V, as at last pointed out to me as she walked about the village, and I 
could not help chuckling at my escape from the fate which had been 
intended for me. She was old, ugly and disgusting. 

"After the expiration of four or five days from that on which we 
reached Lower Sandusky, our preparations were completed; the boats 
were laden with the peltry of the traders ; and the whole trading party 
embarked for Detroit. On the afternoon of the second day, having de- 
scended the river into Sandusky Bay, we landed on a small island near 
the strait by which it enters into Lake Erie. Here we pitched a tent 
which belonged to our party. The island was inhabited by a small body 
of Indians, and we were soon informed that they were preparing for a 
festival and dance. If I then understood the motive or occasion which 
induced this dance, it is not now within my recollection. Several canoes 
were employed in bringing guests from the main, which is at a short 
distance, separated from the island by a narrow arm of the bay. We 
were all invited to the dance by short sticks, painted red, which were 
delivered to us, and seemed to be intended as tickets of admission. A 
large circular piece of ground was made smooth, and surrounded by 
something like a pallisade, within which the entertainment was held. 
We had expected that it would commence early in the evening, but the 



100 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

delay was so long that we laid down to sleep in the tent, winch stood 
near the spot of ground prepared for the dance. 

■"About eleven o'clock we were awakened by the noise of Indian 
mirth. One hundred, perhaps, of both sexes had assembled. Both men 
and women were dressed in calico shirts. Tho^e of the women were 
adorned with a profusion of silver !)roaches, stuck in the sleeves and 
bosoms; they wore, besides, what is called a match-coat, formed of 
cloth, confined around the middle of their bodies by a string, with the 
edges lapping toward the side, and the length of the garment extended 
a little below the knees. They wore leggings and moccasins. Their 
cheeks were painted red, but no other part of their face. Their long 
black hair was parted in front, drawn together behind, and formed mto 
a club. The liberal use of bear's oil gave it a high gloss. Such are 
the ornaments and dress of an Indian belle, by which she endeavors to 
;:ttract the notice of admiring beaux, The men had a covering around 
their waists, to which their leggings were suspended by a string, extend- 
ing from their top to the cord which held on the covering of the waist; 
and a blanket or robe thrown over the shoulders and confined by a belt 
around the body, of various colors and adorned with beads. The women 
were arranged together and led the dance, the men following after them 
and all describing a circle. The character of this dance differed essen- 
tially from that of the war dance, which I had witnessed on a former 
occasion. The one was accompanied hy horrid yells and shrieks and 
extravagant gestures, expressive of fury and ferocity, with nothing like 
a mirthful cheerfulness. The other which I saw in this last instance 
was mere festivity and lively mirth. The women were excluded from 
the first, but had 'an active share in the second; and both sexes were 
highly animated by the music of the tamborine. An abundant supper 
had been provided, consisting altogether of the fresh meat of bears and 
deer, without bread or salt and dressed in no other manner than by 
boiling. It was served up in a number of wooden trenchers, placed on 
the ground and the guests seated themselves around it. We were in- 
vited to partake but neither the food nor the cookery were much to our 
taste; yet we were unwilling to refuse their hospitality, and joined in 
their repast. We were not gainers by it; for when we were faring 
not very sumptuously on their boiled meat, without bread or salt, they 
entered our tent and stole from our basket which contained provisions 
enough for our voyage, a very fine ham on which we had intended to 
regale ourselves the next day" 

It is a ctiriotis fact that of the first settlers of the Ohio 
Company at Marietta, tlic first or.s^anized settlement in the 
Northwestern Territory, who were capttired by the Indians to 
be taken for ransom to Detroit, two of their number. Major 
Nathan Goodale. the Revolutionary hero, and Daniel Convers, 



lire Croiihan Celebration. 101 

then a young lad, should iiave been treated with great kindness 
by the Indian trader James Whitaker and his family, the first 
permanent white settlers in Ohio, at their home near Lower 
Sandusky. In fact Aiajor Goodale died at the home of the 
Whitakers and was buried by them ; while young Convers makes 
personal mention of their kindness to him, in his Reminiscences. 

The lad Daniel Convers was captured by nine Indians on 
the 29th of April, 1791, just outside of Fort Frye, while engaged 
with three armed soldiers in cutting a tree for the purpose of 
making a hoop for the body of a drum. They were fired on, 
when the three soldiers ran, leaving Daniel, who was unarmed, 
to be captured by the Indians. He was hurried into a canoe 
on. the river which crossed over to the mouth of Wolf Creek. 
On arriving at Lower Sandusky, on the 9th of May, he found 
oxen and other cattle that h^t'd been taken from the settlement 
at Marietta. 

Some young Indian boys ran with him up the river bank 
to keep him out of sight of the other Indians who lived -in the 
large Indian village, and he thus received only kind treatment, 
except in the case of a drunken Indian, who knocked him down 
several times. Hildreth's Pioneer History says that they moved 
the next day down the Sandusky, "and stopped a short time at 
Mr. W'hitaker's, an Indfan trader. He had a white wife who 
like himself had been taken prisoner in childhood and adopted 
into the tribe. The trader made them a present of a loaf of 
maple sugar, giving Daniel a share. Whitaker said but little 
to the prisoner, lest he should excite the jealousy of the war- 
riors." 

On arriving at the mouth of the Portage River, near the 
ruins of old Fort Sandusky, Convers was delivered to his new 
master, a Chippewa. The price paid for him was a horse and 
several strings of wampum. 

He was then taken to Detroit, where on the 14th of July 
he escaped and after secreting himself for several weeks was 
finally taken to the hospital l^y the son of the British Command- 
ant, who treated him kindly and sent him on down to ^Montreal 
and then on to his relations in Killinglv, Connecticut. He re- 
turned to Marietta in b\'bruary. 1794. and became an infiuential 



102 Ohio .Irch. and Hist. Society PiihUcatioiis. 

» 

citizen. He drew the sketch of Fort Frye found in Hildreth's 
Pioneer History, which he assisted, as a boy, in building. 

Of the many acts of kinchiess extended by James Whitaker 
anti his wife during- their residence among the Inchans at Lower 
Sandusky, the most noted person whom they were al)le to assist 
was Major Nathan Goodale. Gen. Rufus Putnam, the intimate 
friend of Washington and his chief engineer and the "Father 
of Ohio" in its first organized settlement, was warmly attached 
to IMajor Goodale, who had served as an officer in his regiment 
through the entire war. General I'utnam. in a remarkable letter 
to General Washington written at 2^1assachusetts Huts, June 9, 
1783, calls Washington's attention to the numerous conspicuous 
acts of personal brivery and of the gallant duty performed by 
Major Goodale during the Revolutionary War. 

Major Goodale was a native of Brookfield, ]Mass., but 
joined the Ohio Company in 1788. He removed to Belpre, near 
Alarietta, in 1789, where he was captured March i, 1793, while 
working on his farm within fifty rods of the garrison, by eight 
\\'vandot Indians, who hurried him off toward Detroit in order 
to secure a large ransom. While en route, near Lower San- 
dusky, he fell sick and could not travel. The Whitakers learn- 
ing of his condition took him to their home, where Mrs. \\'h!taker 
carefullv nursed him until he finally* died and was probably 
buried in what afterward became the Whitaker family grave- 
yard. Mrs. Whitaker said "the Indians left him at her house, 
where he died of a disease like pleurisy without having received 
any very ill usage from his captors other than the means neces- 
sarv to ])revcnt his escape." 

James Whitaker may be regarded as the first educator of 
this region. .\l)out 1800, at large expense, he hired a teacher 
from the east to instruct the older children. His oldest daugh- 
ter, Nancy, had been taken to Alontreal, and then sent to Scot- 
land, where she remained three years at school, returning well 
qualified to teach her younger brothers and sisters. 

The Sandusky and .Maumee \'alleys, as well as Detroit and 
tlie Michigan |)eninsula, practically remained under British do- 
minion lunil after the fiattle of b'allen Timl)ers and the sulise(|uent 
treaty of Ch-eenville. Detroit was evacuated by the British in 



The Croghan Celebration. 103 

1796. nevertheless the Ilritish through their TiKhan alHes kept 
an envious eye cm tliis region and ahnost imnicdiatelv after the 
declaration of war in June, 1812, again took possession of much 
of this territory through the ignominious surrender of Detroit. 
Under these circumstances and on account of James Whitaker's 
almost semi-annual husiness trips to Montreal it was but natural 
that he and his family, including his son-in-law, Captain Wilson 
of the British Army, should be counted on as having warm British 
sympathies, many British officers, including Proctor himself it is 
said, visited at the Whitaker home at Lower Sandusky prior to 
the War of 1812. After James Whitaker's death in 1804, and for 
nearly thirty years thereafter, Mrs. Whitaker resided in the old 
home and transacted the business of a frontier trader, but her 
connections were more with the Americans on the Ohio River 
and at Pittsburg than with the British at Montreal. Many acts of 
kindness on her part to the foreign missionaries are recorded. 

The Rev. Joseph Badger, born in Springfield, Mass., and a 
Revolutionary soldier who fought at Bunker Hill, was appointed 
a missionary in the Connecticut Western Reserve in October, 
1800, and in 1801 began his work which also extended into the 
Sandusky \'alley. In 1805, in the records left by him, w^e read 
of his swimming his horse across the Sandusky River by the . 
side of his canoe. Associated with him was Quintus F. Atkins, 
whose diary is in the W. R. Historical Society. There we read 
that in 1806 these two men sailed up the Sandusky River to 
Mrs. Whitaker's, where they unloaded and had family prayers. 
A little later they heard Crane, the Wyandot chief, "expressing 
his pleasure in granting permission to work their land and to 
get food and hoping they would dwell together in peace." In 
the fall of 1809, when war rumors were afloat, Mr. Badger 
made an appointment for the Indians to meet him at Mrs. 
Whitaker's, at Low^er Sandusky. His address to them was so 
convincing and his influence over them for four or five years 
had been so powerful for good, that they resolved to take no 
part against the Americans. This was doubtless one of the rea- 
sons together with the influence of ]\Irs. Whitaker. wh\- the 
W}andots under Tarhe at Lower Sandusky, kept their failli with 



104 



Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 



the Americans ami tlid not join the other huhars in hehalf of the 
British. 

General Harrison often stopped at her house and she nursed 
him there through an illness of over six weeks. W hen the liritish 
expedition set out from Detroit under Proctor late in July, 1813. 
against Fort ]\Iei<:^s and then a.c^ainst Fort Stephenson at Lower 
Sanduskv. it is onlv fair to jjresume that they counted on Mrs. 
\\'hitaker hein-;^- frien.dly or at least neutral, as it was known that 
she had in het; house the three children of a Captain in the British 
Armv in the persons of the children of her <lau',hter Xancy. The 
British gun-hoats stopped at Whitaker's wharf three miles helow 
the fort, where the laroe fine dwelling-house, store-house, factory 





(lOl.l) .Mi:i).\l. AWARDF.l) .\l.\jOK CUOCIIAX IW COXCKF.SS. 



and wharves of the Whitakers were located, but Mrs. Whitaker 
^vith her children a.nd L'randclnldren on the approach of Tecuni- 
seirs horde of Indians had tied to the protection of Fort Stei)hen- 
son and had been sent hut a day or so before the battle, with other 
refugees, woinen and children, on toward Tpjier Sandusk\ and 
Delaware. She. herself, was tired on l)y the Indians, whose bullets 
riddled her cape. Her descendants, and in fact many old residents, 
ascribe mut-h of Major Croghan's success t<-) the intormation 
and advice given him by Mrs. Whitaker. She certainly had 
everv opjjortunitv of learning of the intention of the Indian 
allies of the I'.ritish and this information she undoubtedly im- 
])arted to ( ieneral Harrison and .Major C'roghan, although it 



The Crughaii Celebration. 105 

is 'hard to estimate the actual value of the assistance given to 
Croghan in the battle. Xevertheless the British were so in- 
censed at her conduct that they stopped at the Whitaker home 
on their retreat down the river from Fort Stephenson and re- 
mained long enough to utterly destroy the old home, the ware- 
house, the factory and the wharves. Before Mrs. Whitaker fled 
from her riverside home, she buried a handsome silver service 
which had been presented to her and her husband, years before, 
by British officers. It was unearthed and carried off by the Brit- 
ish. Among the evidences of the landing of British soldiers at 
the Whitaker homestead and also of the character of the troops 
engaged against Fort Stephenson is a Wellington half-penny 
token, coined in 1813. and presented to British troops participating 
in Wellington's Peninsular Campaign in Spain and Portugal, 
which was found within the last ten years near the Whitaker 
homestead and was placed in the Birchard Lilirary Museum. After 
the close of General Harrison's Northwestern Compaign he ap- 
pointed a commission to appraise the damage and loss sustained 
by American citizens by the British invasion of Ohio during the 
War of 1812. This commission awarded Mrs. Whitaker $8000 
as the damage and loss sustained in the destruction of her prop- 
erty by the British forces under General Proctor. 'T have claims 
on the United States," says her will, probated in 1833, "to $8000 
for spoilation during the last war." Voluminous papers were pre- 
pared many years ago containing original affidavits of settlers 
of that period, and placed in the hands of Congressman Frank 
H. Hurd, who represented this Congressional 'District some 
twentv-five vears aeo. 



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